Poem: "If You Can Do Just One Thing Well"
May. 25th, 2021 03:15 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithThis poem is spillover from the April 20, 2021 Bonus Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from librarygeek. It also fills the "technology" square in my 4-4-21 "Aspects" card for the Genderplay Bingo fest, and the "disability not erased by killing or curing" square in my 9-1-20 card for the Fries Test Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by fuzzyred. It belongs to the Daughters of the Apocalypse series.
Warning: This poem contains intense and controversial topics. Highlight to read the warnings, some of which are spoilers. It includes the apocalypse, the Grunge, mass casualties, refugees, death in childbirth, birth defects, fisticuffs over rudeness about disability, and other challenges. If these are sensitive issues for you, please consider your tastes and headspace before reading onward.
"If You Can Do Just One Thing Well"
[Scraping Moon 20, 15. A.E.]
Mikil sat in her quiet basement,
enjoying the steady hum of
the old Singer sewing machine.
She was lucky to have it,
not to mention the electricity
to keep the machine running;
so many things from Before
had fallen apart or been lost,
and more gave way all the time.
With her nimble toes, Mikil
skillfully guided the fabric
through the machine, turning
it to shape the garment that was
coming together in her grasp.
It would be a new tunic
for the Knights Hospitaller,
who protected Lazarus Lake.
Mikil used her feet because
she had no hands; her left arm
was barely a stub and her right
ended halfway down the forearm.
The doctors said that was because
her parents got caught in the Grunge.
They hadn't died immediately, but
Mikil's mother had not survived
childbirth, and her father had
passed on a few months later.
The Grunge was cruel;
it could kill fast or slow, and
people were still dying of
problems that probably
came from it, years After.
To Mikil, though, Before
was just a story people told;
she'd never known it and
barely even believed in it.
Still, she was proud of
her accomplishments
in the Aftermath.
Mikil had a place of
her own, a profession
built on her skills, and
some great friends.
She could mend
almost anything made
of cloth, or make clothes
from whatever fabric
people scrounged up.
A few places were
50 even starting to produce
new cloth, mostly woven
from wool, since sheep could
eat the tough, dry grass that
grew in this part of Lincoln.
The door swung open,
and Mikil looked up to see
Sir Jacqueline of Lazarus, one
of the Knights Hospitaller who
protected the House of St. John
in the commune of Lazarus Lake.
Her right hand was dripping blood.
"What happened?" Mikil exclaimed,
abandoning her work to hurry
to her best friend's side.
"His face was harder than I
expected," Sir Jacqueline said.
"I cut my knuckles on his teeth."
"Oh, we better clean that up,
mouths are dirty," said Mikil,
reaching for her first aid kit.
"Wait, whose mouth, and
whyja hit him? A tobey?"
Sir Jacqueline shook her head.
"No, some stinkey who said you
were disabled and a burden."
Mikil looked over at the tunic
she was making, and laughed.
Sir Jacqueline followed her gaze
and started chuckling as well.
"Disability's a matter of perception,"
Mikil said with a stubborn smirk.
"If you can do just one thing well,
you’re needed by someone."
"We need you, Mikil,"
Sir Jacqueline assured her.
"We will always need you."
* * *
Notes:
Mikil Smith -- She has fair skin, brown eyes, and long straight chestnut hair. She was born with severe limb deformities because of parental exposure to the Grunge. Her left arm has only a short stub at the shoulder; her right ends about halfway down the forearm. Her heritage is American; she speaks Afta English. She is one of the few people born during 0 A.E. (in November / Scraping Moon) and is 15 in 15 A.E. Her mother died in childbirth and her father died a few months later. Mikil is a muney, living in the commune of Lazarus Lake, Lincoln, Cadia. She has a basement apartment, furnished with whatever scraps she could find. The commune has some electricity, and she found an old Singer sewing machine that is sturdy and simple to use. Mikil uses her feet the way other people use their hands, and has become the best seamstress in the area. She makes clothes for the Knights Hospitaller and other people. Her best friend is Sir Jacqueline of Lazarus.
Chemical weapons and other toxins are known to cause birth defects. After the Grunge, lingering impacts ran up the rate of miscarriage and stillbirth, chiefly due to failures in muscle or lung development. The leading survivable birth defects from the Grunge are limb abnormalities and facial clefts.
Sir Jacqueline of Lazarus -- She has fair skin, brown eyes, and long wavy brown hair usually braided out of the way. Her ears are pierced and she wears pearl earrings to represent purity. She is tall and wiry. Her heritage is American; she speaks English and Church Latin. She was 2 years old at the End and is 17 in 15 A.E. Sir Jacqueline is an armey belonging to the Knights Hospitaller, who protect the House of St. John in the commune of Lazarus Lake, Lincoln, Cadia. She is a tireless patroller and a skilled archer, faithful in defense of her home. Her best friend is the seamstress Mikil Smith.
* * *
“Disability is a matter of perception. If you can do just one thing well, you’re needed by someone.”
--Martina Navratilova
See the maps, animals, and Grunge notes after "Laundry, Liturgy, and Women's Work."
This map shows Washington roads and cities. Rainshadow Road is the part of former Interstate 90 from the eastern border through the Columbia Basin (the rainshadow) to the Cascade Mountains. Lazarus Lake is a commune outside the ruins of former Moses Lake, so named because for some unknown reason Grunge victims who washed in its water had a higher survival rate. Now it has a reputation for healing water.
Prior to the End, the Sovereign Military Order of Malta had sent humanitarian aid to the state of Washington, based in Moses Lake. In the Aftermath, they established two related entities: an armey called the Knights Hospitaller and the House of St. John in the commune of Lazarus Lake. The Knights Hospitaller roam the surrounding area providing protection and first aid. The House of St. John is a combination monastery-hospital-inn.
Sacred hospitality is making a much stronger return in the new cultures. Within a few years After, gathering spots begin to emerge from the ruins of civilization. Some places are reinventing the monastary-hospital-inn. Clergy in cities were hit because they kept trying to help people, but on average they tend to be lower on sex hormones and higher on age, not as many in the target range. Those outside in monasteries, missionary work, etc. fared much better. I've already spotted one nun running a commune, and it doesn't seem rare: "Mother" and "Father" as titles for elders are popular, and that's likely where it came from.
Disability is as much about perspective as physique. While the limitations are real and sometimes heavy, disabled people show great ingenuity in finding their own way of doing things. They may find it empowering to make their own adaptive equipment to compensate for their limitations. A culture that maximizes access thereby minimizes disability. Traditional societies such as the Amish and Mennonites customarily view differences as gifts rather than curses and integrate such people fully into the community.
Singer is an old brand of sewing machine, including the first model for home use. The older ones are sturdy and easy to repair, originally powered by a treadle and then by electricity. They are highly valued in the Aftermath because modern sewing machines were elaborate, fragile, and difficult or impossible to repair. Whenever people find the resources After, they can easily reverse-engineer the early Singers even if they can't find the original blueprints. My grandmother had a treadle Singer that she still used, and I remember using. Note that Mikil's model looks like an early convertible-portable sewing machine, which means it could be reconverted to hand-crank or treadle use. You can actually run the thing by hand-spinning that big wheel, which is how you do slow stitches for tight corners.
Wool production is very old and thus its processing is among the easiest of textiles to revive after the End. Sheep can produce wool even on meagre pasture in harsh conditions, especially heritage breeds. Wool can be used for all kinds of fibercrafts along with many other things. Some farms already raise their own sheep for felting, weaving, spinning, knitting, and so on. Such farms were well equipped to hit the ground running in the Aftermath.
Finger injuries are common; a cut that goes over a knuckle is one reason to seek professional care. Human bites also merit a trip to the clinic, and cutting knuckles on someone's teeth counts as a human bite for health care purposes. Regarding first aid for messy hand injuries, listen to the people who get them all the time, and see mountain biker first aid tips. Health workers know clinical practices and treat many wounds, but may not see the follow-through. People who have had dozens of messy little injuries learn what works best by watching it over time.
Whyja -- from Before English "Why do you?" or "Why did you?"
Tobey -- a person or band given to marauding, particularly highway robbery. From "high toby," from "boro tobay killipen."
(I thought the latter was from Romani, but found partial references to Shelta, and no exact match.)
Stinkey -- someone who comes into a commune or trading post for entertainment and often trouble. From "stinker."
librarygeek. It also fills the "technology" square in my 4-4-21 "Aspects" card for the Genderplay Bingo fest, and the "disability not erased by killing or curing" square in my 9-1-20 card for the Fries Test Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by fuzzyred. It belongs to the Daughters of the Apocalypse series.Warning: This poem contains intense and controversial topics. Highlight to read the warnings, some of which are spoilers. It includes the apocalypse, the Grunge, mass casualties, refugees, death in childbirth, birth defects, fisticuffs over rudeness about disability, and other challenges. If these are sensitive issues for you, please consider your tastes and headspace before reading onward.
"If You Can Do Just One Thing Well"
[Scraping Moon 20, 15. A.E.]
Mikil sat in her quiet basement,
enjoying the steady hum of
the old Singer sewing machine.
She was lucky to have it,
not to mention the electricity
to keep the machine running;
so many things from Before
had fallen apart or been lost,
and more gave way all the time.
With her nimble toes, Mikil
skillfully guided the fabric
through the machine, turning
it to shape the garment that was
coming together in her grasp.
It would be a new tunic
for the Knights Hospitaller,
who protected Lazarus Lake.
Mikil used her feet because
she had no hands; her left arm
was barely a stub and her right
ended halfway down the forearm.
The doctors said that was because
her parents got caught in the Grunge.
They hadn't died immediately, but
Mikil's mother had not survived
childbirth, and her father had
passed on a few months later.
The Grunge was cruel;
it could kill fast or slow, and
people were still dying of
problems that probably
came from it, years After.
To Mikil, though, Before
was just a story people told;
she'd never known it and
barely even believed in it.
Still, she was proud of
her accomplishments
in the Aftermath.
Mikil had a place of
her own, a profession
built on her skills, and
some great friends.
She could mend
almost anything made
of cloth, or make clothes
from whatever fabric
people scrounged up.
A few places were
50 even starting to produce
new cloth, mostly woven
from wool, since sheep could
eat the tough, dry grass that
grew in this part of Lincoln.
The door swung open,
and Mikil looked up to see
Sir Jacqueline of Lazarus, one
of the Knights Hospitaller who
protected the House of St. John
in the commune of Lazarus Lake.
Her right hand was dripping blood.
"What happened?" Mikil exclaimed,
abandoning her work to hurry
to her best friend's side.
"His face was harder than I
expected," Sir Jacqueline said.
"I cut my knuckles on his teeth."
"Oh, we better clean that up,
mouths are dirty," said Mikil,
reaching for her first aid kit.
"Wait, whose mouth, and
whyja hit him? A tobey?"
Sir Jacqueline shook her head.
"No, some stinkey who said you
were disabled and a burden."
Mikil looked over at the tunic
she was making, and laughed.
Sir Jacqueline followed her gaze
and started chuckling as well.
"Disability's a matter of perception,"
Mikil said with a stubborn smirk.
"If you can do just one thing well,
you’re needed by someone."
"We need you, Mikil,"
Sir Jacqueline assured her.
"We will always need you."
* * *
Notes:
Mikil Smith -- She has fair skin, brown eyes, and long straight chestnut hair. She was born with severe limb deformities because of parental exposure to the Grunge. Her left arm has only a short stub at the shoulder; her right ends about halfway down the forearm. Her heritage is American; she speaks Afta English. She is one of the few people born during 0 A.E. (in November / Scraping Moon) and is 15 in 15 A.E. Her mother died in childbirth and her father died a few months later. Mikil is a muney, living in the commune of Lazarus Lake, Lincoln, Cadia. She has a basement apartment, furnished with whatever scraps she could find. The commune has some electricity, and she found an old Singer sewing machine that is sturdy and simple to use. Mikil uses her feet the way other people use their hands, and has become the best seamstress in the area. She makes clothes for the Knights Hospitaller and other people. Her best friend is Sir Jacqueline of Lazarus.
Chemical weapons and other toxins are known to cause birth defects. After the Grunge, lingering impacts ran up the rate of miscarriage and stillbirth, chiefly due to failures in muscle or lung development. The leading survivable birth defects from the Grunge are limb abnormalities and facial clefts.
Sir Jacqueline of Lazarus -- She has fair skin, brown eyes, and long wavy brown hair usually braided out of the way. Her ears are pierced and she wears pearl earrings to represent purity. She is tall and wiry. Her heritage is American; she speaks English and Church Latin. She was 2 years old at the End and is 17 in 15 A.E. Sir Jacqueline is an armey belonging to the Knights Hospitaller, who protect the House of St. John in the commune of Lazarus Lake, Lincoln, Cadia. She is a tireless patroller and a skilled archer, faithful in defense of her home. Her best friend is the seamstress Mikil Smith.
* * *
“Disability is a matter of perception. If you can do just one thing well, you’re needed by someone.”
--Martina Navratilova
See the maps, animals, and Grunge notes after "Laundry, Liturgy, and Women's Work."
This map shows Washington roads and cities. Rainshadow Road is the part of former Interstate 90 from the eastern border through the Columbia Basin (the rainshadow) to the Cascade Mountains. Lazarus Lake is a commune outside the ruins of former Moses Lake, so named because for some unknown reason Grunge victims who washed in its water had a higher survival rate. Now it has a reputation for healing water.
Prior to the End, the Sovereign Military Order of Malta had sent humanitarian aid to the state of Washington, based in Moses Lake. In the Aftermath, they established two related entities: an armey called the Knights Hospitaller and the House of St. John in the commune of Lazarus Lake. The Knights Hospitaller roam the surrounding area providing protection and first aid. The House of St. John is a combination monastery-hospital-inn.
Sacred hospitality is making a much stronger return in the new cultures. Within a few years After, gathering spots begin to emerge from the ruins of civilization. Some places are reinventing the monastary-hospital-inn. Clergy in cities were hit because they kept trying to help people, but on average they tend to be lower on sex hormones and higher on age, not as many in the target range. Those outside in monasteries, missionary work, etc. fared much better. I've already spotted one nun running a commune, and it doesn't seem rare: "Mother" and "Father" as titles for elders are popular, and that's likely where it came from.
Disability is as much about perspective as physique. While the limitations are real and sometimes heavy, disabled people show great ingenuity in finding their own way of doing things. They may find it empowering to make their own adaptive equipment to compensate for their limitations. A culture that maximizes access thereby minimizes disability. Traditional societies such as the Amish and Mennonites customarily view differences as gifts rather than curses and integrate such people fully into the community.
Singer is an old brand of sewing machine, including the first model for home use. The older ones are sturdy and easy to repair, originally powered by a treadle and then by electricity. They are highly valued in the Aftermath because modern sewing machines were elaborate, fragile, and difficult or impossible to repair. Whenever people find the resources After, they can easily reverse-engineer the early Singers even if they can't find the original blueprints. My grandmother had a treadle Singer that she still used, and I remember using. Note that Mikil's model looks like an early convertible-portable sewing machine, which means it could be reconverted to hand-crank or treadle use. You can actually run the thing by hand-spinning that big wheel, which is how you do slow stitches for tight corners.
Wool production is very old and thus its processing is among the easiest of textiles to revive after the End. Sheep can produce wool even on meagre pasture in harsh conditions, especially heritage breeds. Wool can be used for all kinds of fibercrafts along with many other things. Some farms already raise their own sheep for felting, weaving, spinning, knitting, and so on. Such farms were well equipped to hit the ground running in the Aftermath.
Finger injuries are common; a cut that goes over a knuckle is one reason to seek professional care. Human bites also merit a trip to the clinic, and cutting knuckles on someone's teeth counts as a human bite for health care purposes. Regarding first aid for messy hand injuries, listen to the people who get them all the time, and see mountain biker first aid tips. Health workers know clinical practices and treat many wounds, but may not see the follow-through. People who have had dozens of messy little injuries learn what works best by watching it over time.
Whyja -- from Before English "Why do you?" or "Why did you?"
Tobey -- a person or band given to marauding, particularly highway robbery. From "high toby," from "boro tobay killipen."
(I thought the latter was from Romani, but found partial references to Shelta, and no exact match.)
Stinkey -- someone who comes into a commune or trading post for entertainment and often trouble. From "stinker."
(no subject)
Date: 2021-05-25 07:31 pm (UTC)Yay!
Date: 2021-05-25 07:36 pm (UTC)They describe themselves as best friends; I'd lean toward queerplatonic. There's a lot of that in the Aftermath, where men are in short supply, so the women tend to rely on each other for support.
You can always prompt for more of these two if you want to see them. :D
Re: Yay!
Date: 2021-05-25 07:41 pm (UTC)I'll try to remember to prompt for more. 😁😁
Re: Yay!
Date: 2021-05-25 07:54 pm (UTC)I'm glad that worked! I'm trying to show a wider range of relationship types in this setting, since the previous man/woman standard is rarely feasible.
>> I'll try to remember to prompt for more. <<
Make a note of the June 1 fishbowl, because it's a bullseye for this setting: "I never thought I'd have to say that."
Re: Yay!
Date: 2021-05-28 12:40 am (UTC)Re: Yay!
Date: 2021-05-28 12:43 am (UTC)Re: Yay!
Date: 2021-05-26 12:21 am (UTC)In some ways we have to lean on each other already, because there are some issues that most guys don't care to deal with.
Guys who are willing to follow, rather than lead, are less common than I'd like.
But if you're lucky enough to find a guy who listens, and asks questions politely, and does something useful with the new information, and let's you take point while being backup and support staff, and is willing to take over and solve the problem well /if asked to do so/...
It's also interesting how culture can influence relationships.
I've seen at least two interpretations of xenoculture where 'best friend' is the closest human-American translation, but the relationship itself is held to the same value as the human-traditional concept of marriage.
There's also cultures where you address a dear friend as brother or sister when you are feeling very close. (The first time someone did that to me I was confused, as in my culture Brother/Sister are religious titles.)
Dating vs close friends behavior can also be surprisingly easy to confuse between different cultures. (To the point my government does trainings for deployed soldiers.)
Re: Yay!
Date: 2021-05-26 09:36 am (UTC)That's often true.
>> Guys who are willing to follow, rather than lead, are less common than I'd like. <<
Try looking in the FriendZone, they're a dime a dozen there. For some fool reason most women don't find that sexy.
When they complain that their jock boyfriend won't take out the trash, I just laugh. Try not shopping with your crotch.
>> But if you're lucky enough to find a guy who listens, and asks questions politely, and does something useful with the new information, and let's you take point while being backup and support staff, and is willing to take over and solve the problem well /if asked to do so/... <<
Grab hold and don't let go!
>> It's also interesting how culture can influence relationships. <<
True.
>> I've seen at least two interpretations of xenoculture where 'best friend' is the closest human-American translation, but the relationship itself is held to the same value as the human-traditional concept of marriage.<<
Well, at least someone has a clue.
>>There's also cultures where you address a dear friend as brother or sister when you are feeling very close. (The first time someone did that to me I was confused, as in my culture Brother/Sister are religious titles.) <<
Most Native American tribes are that way. Everyone your age is brother/sister/cousin, everyone older is uncle/aunt or grandfather/grandmother.
>> Dating vs close friends behavior can also be surprisingly easy to confuse between different cultures. (To the point my government does trainings for deployed soldiers.) <<
Yep.
Re: Yay!
Date: 2021-05-26 05:14 pm (UTC)Try for someone that makes you feel safe...and [for me at least] can hold an intelligent discussion. In roughly that order. Applies to friendships as well as romance.
>>Grab hold and don't let go!<<
Guys like that also make good friends; and it is very relaxing to have skilled backup so's you dont have to always fight your way through minor problems.
Related: I find that life is also easier if you have a good reputation for /not/ sneaking around and having affairs - less drama for everyone.
>>Well, at least someone has a clue.<<
Try these fanfics (cultural concepts from the source material, but expanded on in the fanfic):
https://archiveofourown.org/series/990951
(Warnings for attempted rape, getting roofied with an aphrodisiac, akward discussions of sex, discussions of hate crime assault, and new relationship difficulties. Points for ethical behavior, caregiving, respecting boundaries, and discussion / skilled navigation of unfamiliar cultural norms.)
https://archiveofourown.org/works/25230433
(Warnings: slavery/hostage situation, attempted murder, attempted mercy kill, adult fear of children/loved ones being in danger and being unable to protect them, summary execution of a minion by the bad guy, battlefield flashback) Points for the scientists being very effective against a would-be galactic conqueror with advanced military knowledge.
Not sure if I got the warnings exactly right, but I'm pretty sure you'd find these two interesting.
>>Most Native American tribes are that way.<<
Middle Eastern, in my case, but I didn't think to ask about the other titles. [I am American.]
Reread
Date: 2022-02-21 03:52 am (UTC)