Poem: "Connoisseurs of Comfort"
Mar. 27th, 2023 02:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithThis poem is spillover from the September 6, 2022 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by prompts from elinox, rix_scaedu, and kengr. It has been sponsored by fuzzyred. This poem belongs to the Rutledge thread of the Polychrome Heroics series.
"Connoisseurs of Comfort"
[Evening of Wednesday, May 6, 2015]
When Karimah heard about
the crafting party over at
Emerald Mountain Glen,
she packed up Afra and
caught a ride out there.
It was busier than she'd
seen the last time, but that
was all right. She could look
for a quiet corner with some
of the people she already knew.
Karimah spotted Felicity chatting with
Chenille and Darner among the people
gathered in front of the converted garage.
"Hi there!" Felicity called as she saw them.
"Welcome to the crafting party. I'm glad
you decided to come here tonight."
"I wanted to see if the regular events
would be comfortable," said Karimah.
"Your dogs look funny," Afra piped up.
"Those aren't dogs, those are cats,"
Felicity said. "Vermont Shag Carpet Cats
can actually grow as large as some dogs.
The grays are Silver Haze and Sterling,
the brown is Sasquatch, and the calicos
are Love Potion Number 9 and Fourpatch."
Karimah looked around. There were
two huge tabbies of pale silver-gray
and another of brindled brown.
One calico had a classic coat of
black and orange while the other
was peach, gray, and white with
a black nose. All of them were
so fluffy they looked like mops.
The brown tabby ambled over to Afra
and reared up so he could put his paws
on her shoulders and sniff her face.
His head was then higher than hers.
He had strange feet too, almost
like two feet stuck together at
the end of each leg, extra toes
giving them enormous width.
"Tickles," Afra said, giggling
as she pushed his whiskers away.
"Sasquatch, get down," said Chenille.
"Not everyone wants your face in theirs."
The massive cat thumped back onto
all fours, then promptly tickled Afra
with his long plumed tail instead.
Afra giggled again. Karimah
hadn't heard that sound in so long.
As they walked toward the door,
the orange-and-black calico wove
through the crowd to rub herself
against everybody's legs.
"Well, this is convenient, we
won't have to look far to find
playtesters," a woman said.
"Karimah, I'd like you to meet
Anna the Patchwork Girl,"
said Felicity. "She's running
today's craft party with a theme
of making upcycled cat beds
since she's an expert on cats.
Anna, these are our new friends
Karimah and her daughter Afra."
"Hello," said Karimah. "That
sounds like an interesting theme."
"Thanks. We need to get ahead of
the spring flood of kittens," said Anna.
"Cat beds help to contain them."
"Will that work?" Karimah asked.
"Oh yes," said Anna. "Cats are
connoisseurs of comfort. If there's
a nice place to sleep, they'll go for it."
"True," said Chenille. "Some of
the outdoor cats aren't as picky,
but the indoor-outdoor ones and
the housecats go for the warm spots."
The cats were so hairy, Karimah
wondered if they could feel the cold
at all, even with Vermont weather.
She followed Chenille and Darner
inside to where the meeting space
had been set up for the craft party.
One large table held piles of supplies.
The chairs were pulled out to hold
stacks of preprinted instructions
for different styles of cat bed.
"Why are there computers?"
"So I can turn them into cat beds,"
said a girl. "I'm Headtunnel. Since
cats like warm things, I take the insides
out of broken computers and replace
those with a heating element."
"Yeah, computers are easier
to upcycle than to recycle, except
for the most repair-friendly ones,"
said Darner. "This gets around that,
and gives cats a warm place to nap
without annoying computer users."
"I don't know much about computers,"
Karimah admitted. "Afra and I are
more used to working with fabric."
"So go work on the fiber end of
the table, then when you want
to take a break, some back and
look at my computer cat beds,"
Headtunnel invited. "They
don't take too long to make."
"Thank you, I'll do that,"
said Karimah. Then she
turned to her friends. "Now,
what kinds of cat beds can
we make from soft things?"
Chenille picked up a bag
that read, Salvage Yarn.
"I think I'll crochet one."
"I'll make mine using
these felted sweaters,"
Darner said as she
picked up a stack.
"Patchwork for me,"
Anna said, taking a bag
of colorful fabric scraps.
"This old quilt looks like
it can make good cat beds,"
Felicity said. "I'll try that.
Karimah, what about you?"
"I'm curious about the sweaters,"
said Karimah. "How can you
make a cat bed out of one?"
"I'll show you," said Darner.
"It's one of the easiest methods."
"Can I help?" Afra asked.
Karimah felt her heart give
a little flutter. Afra rarely
asked for things anymore,
but here she was starting
to show interest again.
"Sure, this project has steps
you can do," said Darner. "There
are two parts that need stuffing,
then the cat bed has to get
fluffed into its final shape."
Felicity held out a bag.
"You can also work with
the stuffing," she said.
"This bag has scraps of
yarn and fabric that you
can pull apart to make
the stuffing fluffier."
"Like from last time,"
Afra said. "Okay."
They took their stuff
over to a cluster of
couches and chairs.
Felicity found baskets
for Afra to use while
fluffing the stuffing.
Darner spread out
two old sweaters
on the coffee table.
"First we sew the neck
closed, and sew across
the body from armpit to
armpit," she explained.
"That makes a long tube
which we'll be stuffing full."
They pinned the sweaters,
then began sewing. It didn't
take long to make the seam
with a simple running stitch and
a few backstitches for security.
"Stuffing time," Darner said.
"We need to fill the tubes most
of the way to the sleeve ends."
By that point, Afra had filled
a basket with fluffy stuffing.
She pushed handfuls of
it into the sleeves until
the sweaters were full.
"Next, we curve the tube
into a circle," said Darner.
"Push one sleeve end into
the other and sew them
together. This makes
the side of the cat bed."
It took a little poking around
for Karimah to get the sleeves
positioned just right and then
stitch the cuffs securely.
"Now we stuff the body of
the sweater," said Darner.
"That part will become
the bottom of the cat bed."
Afra pushed more stuffing
into the open ends of
each sweater bed.
"How do we ... make this
into a bed?" Karimah said,
frowning at the loop and
the floppy pillowy part.
"Well, this is the tricky bit,"
said Darner. "Turn it over
with the loop side down.
Take the body part and
stretch it to fit the loop,
then pin it in place so
you can sew it that way."
"Here, I have my hands
free, I can stretch it while
you pin it," said Felicity.
"Some things are easier
when you have a little help."
That was true of more than
just making the cat beds.
Karimah still missed
her friends from Syria,
but she was making
new ones, so it didn't
hurt as much as it had.
They got the fussy part
done, then it was just
a matter of sewing
around the circle.
"Now flip it back over,
and pat everything into
a round shape so that
it looks like a cat bed,"
Darner said as she
demonstrated on hers.
Afra copied the motions
carefully, fluffing the bed.
"It's like a hug for kitty
to sleep in," she said.
"What a nice way
of describing that,"
Felicity said, smiling.
"Time for a playtester,"
Darner said, looking around.
There were cats in the room,
Karimah realized, but they
were all busy with other beds.
"I'll go get another cat,"
Anna said, standing up.
Soon she came back
with the gray calico.
"This is Fourpatch,"
Anna said. "She's
the daughter of
my cat Ninepatch."
She put the cat
on the floor beside
the sweater beds.
Fourpatch sniffed
at both beds, then
curled up in the one
Karimah had made.
She began to purr.
"Score!" said Darner.
"You did a great job."
"Thanks," said Karimah.
"I think I would like to see
how the computer beds look."
"Yeah, me too," said Anna.
"I've finished a quilt bed.
I'll come look with you."
They went back over to
the table, where Headtunnel
had a stack of several laptops
now repurposed as cat beds.
Those looked the same as ever,
but one had a big silver cat
curled up on top of it.
A cat who was poking
at the keys with a finger.
"Look, mommy, the cat
has hands," Afra said.
"Yeah, this is Sterling,"
said Headtunnel. "He is
the son of Silverfish, so he
got hands from his daddy."
"That's why we brought
Silverfish here," said Anna.
"He's a fishcat, and they often
have extra toes or actual hands.
We even have a few cats who
like playing kitty computer games.
Sterling just likes to poke the keys."
"I love how the people here can
think of ways to reuse everything,
even the hard things," said Karimah.
"Me too," said Anna. "I like making
quilts, and there are always scraps
so I don't have to buy new fabric
unless I just feel like doing it."
They drifted back to their seats
and saw that the other sweater bed
now held the orange-and-black calico.
Karimah picked up another sweater
to make into a bed, now that she
knew how to do it by herself.
The purring cats helped her
relax into an easy rhythm.
Since she didn't need to focus
so closely on her work, she
could spare attention to talk.
Besides, Karimah missed
the chatter that had filled
crafting circles back in Syria.
"Did you get the recipe that
I sent?" she asked Chenille.
"We got it and sent it out to
our subscribers," Chenille said.
"Thank you for sharing that!"
"Everyone is raving about
your lamb and rhubarb stew,"
Felicity said. "Raving. I heard
Bob's Market ran out of goat meat
and he had to call up Ramon
for an emergency delivery."
"Oh dear," said Karimah.
"But that should be good for
Ramon's business, right?"
"Yeah, but it's extra work,"
said Felicity. "Then Aurinda
felt sorry for Ramon and took out
a big pot the stew for his trouble.
So then the Syrians staying with him
smelled it, and they came running from
all over like cats hearing a can opener."
Karimah chuckled. She had seen that
with teen boys when someone's mother
opened the door and let out supper smells.
Sharing recipes and talking about food
made her feel more at home than
she had since leaving Darayyah.
It was a good way to make
connections with people.
Karimah would have to find
more recipes to share, if they
were received this well.
Cats weren't the only
connoisseurs of comfort.
* * *
Notes:
This poem is long, so its character, setting, and content notes will appear elsewhere.
elinox, rix_scaedu, and kengr. It has been sponsored by fuzzyred. This poem belongs to the Rutledge thread of the Polychrome Heroics series."Connoisseurs of Comfort"
[Evening of Wednesday, May 6, 2015]
When Karimah heard about
the crafting party over at
Emerald Mountain Glen,
she packed up Afra and
caught a ride out there.
It was busier than she'd
seen the last time, but that
was all right. She could look
for a quiet corner with some
of the people she already knew.
Karimah spotted Felicity chatting with
Chenille and Darner among the people
gathered in front of the converted garage.
"Hi there!" Felicity called as she saw them.
"Welcome to the crafting party. I'm glad
you decided to come here tonight."
"I wanted to see if the regular events
would be comfortable," said Karimah.
"Your dogs look funny," Afra piped up.
"Those aren't dogs, those are cats,"
Felicity said. "Vermont Shag Carpet Cats
can actually grow as large as some dogs.
The grays are Silver Haze and Sterling,
the brown is Sasquatch, and the calicos
are Love Potion Number 9 and Fourpatch."
Karimah looked around. There were
two huge tabbies of pale silver-gray
and another of brindled brown.
One calico had a classic coat of
black and orange while the other
was peach, gray, and white with
a black nose. All of them were
so fluffy they looked like mops.
The brown tabby ambled over to Afra
and reared up so he could put his paws
on her shoulders and sniff her face.
His head was then higher than hers.
He had strange feet too, almost
like two feet stuck together at
the end of each leg, extra toes
giving them enormous width.
"Tickles," Afra said, giggling
as she pushed his whiskers away.
"Sasquatch, get down," said Chenille.
"Not everyone wants your face in theirs."
The massive cat thumped back onto
all fours, then promptly tickled Afra
with his long plumed tail instead.
Afra giggled again. Karimah
hadn't heard that sound in so long.
As they walked toward the door,
the orange-and-black calico wove
through the crowd to rub herself
against everybody's legs.
"Well, this is convenient, we
won't have to look far to find
playtesters," a woman said.
"Karimah, I'd like you to meet
Anna the Patchwork Girl,"
said Felicity. "She's running
today's craft party with a theme
of making upcycled cat beds
since she's an expert on cats.
Anna, these are our new friends
Karimah and her daughter Afra."
"Hello," said Karimah. "That
sounds like an interesting theme."
"Thanks. We need to get ahead of
the spring flood of kittens," said Anna.
"Cat beds help to contain them."
"Will that work?" Karimah asked.
"Oh yes," said Anna. "Cats are
connoisseurs of comfort. If there's
a nice place to sleep, they'll go for it."
"True," said Chenille. "Some of
the outdoor cats aren't as picky,
but the indoor-outdoor ones and
the housecats go for the warm spots."
The cats were so hairy, Karimah
wondered if they could feel the cold
at all, even with Vermont weather.
She followed Chenille and Darner
inside to where the meeting space
had been set up for the craft party.
One large table held piles of supplies.
The chairs were pulled out to hold
stacks of preprinted instructions
for different styles of cat bed.
"Why are there computers?"
"So I can turn them into cat beds,"
said a girl. "I'm Headtunnel. Since
cats like warm things, I take the insides
out of broken computers and replace
those with a heating element."
"Yeah, computers are easier
to upcycle than to recycle, except
for the most repair-friendly ones,"
said Darner. "This gets around that,
and gives cats a warm place to nap
without annoying computer users."
"I don't know much about computers,"
Karimah admitted. "Afra and I are
more used to working with fabric."
"So go work on the fiber end of
the table, then when you want
to take a break, some back and
look at my computer cat beds,"
Headtunnel invited. "They
don't take too long to make."
"Thank you, I'll do that,"
said Karimah. Then she
turned to her friends. "Now,
what kinds of cat beds can
we make from soft things?"
Chenille picked up a bag
that read, Salvage Yarn.
"I think I'll crochet one."
"I'll make mine using
these felted sweaters,"
Darner said as she
picked up a stack.
"Patchwork for me,"
Anna said, taking a bag
of colorful fabric scraps.
"This old quilt looks like
it can make good cat beds,"
Felicity said. "I'll try that.
Karimah, what about you?"
"I'm curious about the sweaters,"
said Karimah. "How can you
make a cat bed out of one?"
"I'll show you," said Darner.
"It's one of the easiest methods."
"Can I help?" Afra asked.
Karimah felt her heart give
a little flutter. Afra rarely
asked for things anymore,
but here she was starting
to show interest again.
"Sure, this project has steps
you can do," said Darner. "There
are two parts that need stuffing,
then the cat bed has to get
fluffed into its final shape."
Felicity held out a bag.
"You can also work with
the stuffing," she said.
"This bag has scraps of
yarn and fabric that you
can pull apart to make
the stuffing fluffier."
"Like from last time,"
Afra said. "Okay."
They took their stuff
over to a cluster of
couches and chairs.
Felicity found baskets
for Afra to use while
fluffing the stuffing.
Darner spread out
two old sweaters
on the coffee table.
"First we sew the neck
closed, and sew across
the body from armpit to
armpit," she explained.
"That makes a long tube
which we'll be stuffing full."
They pinned the sweaters,
then began sewing. It didn't
take long to make the seam
with a simple running stitch and
a few backstitches for security.
"Stuffing time," Darner said.
"We need to fill the tubes most
of the way to the sleeve ends."
By that point, Afra had filled
a basket with fluffy stuffing.
She pushed handfuls of
it into the sleeves until
the sweaters were full.
"Next, we curve the tube
into a circle," said Darner.
"Push one sleeve end into
the other and sew them
together. This makes
the side of the cat bed."
It took a little poking around
for Karimah to get the sleeves
positioned just right and then
stitch the cuffs securely.
"Now we stuff the body of
the sweater," said Darner.
"That part will become
the bottom of the cat bed."
Afra pushed more stuffing
into the open ends of
each sweater bed.
"How do we ... make this
into a bed?" Karimah said,
frowning at the loop and
the floppy pillowy part.
"Well, this is the tricky bit,"
said Darner. "Turn it over
with the loop side down.
Take the body part and
stretch it to fit the loop,
then pin it in place so
you can sew it that way."
"Here, I have my hands
free, I can stretch it while
you pin it," said Felicity.
"Some things are easier
when you have a little help."
That was true of more than
just making the cat beds.
Karimah still missed
her friends from Syria,
but she was making
new ones, so it didn't
hurt as much as it had.
They got the fussy part
done, then it was just
a matter of sewing
around the circle.
"Now flip it back over,
and pat everything into
a round shape so that
it looks like a cat bed,"
Darner said as she
demonstrated on hers.
Afra copied the motions
carefully, fluffing the bed.
"It's like a hug for kitty
to sleep in," she said.
"What a nice way
of describing that,"
Felicity said, smiling.
"Time for a playtester,"
Darner said, looking around.
There were cats in the room,
Karimah realized, but they
were all busy with other beds.
"I'll go get another cat,"
Anna said, standing up.
Soon she came back
with the gray calico.
"This is Fourpatch,"
Anna said. "She's
the daughter of
my cat Ninepatch."
She put the cat
on the floor beside
the sweater beds.
Fourpatch sniffed
at both beds, then
curled up in the one
Karimah had made.
She began to purr.
"Score!" said Darner.
"You did a great job."
"Thanks," said Karimah.
"I think I would like to see
how the computer beds look."
"Yeah, me too," said Anna.
"I've finished a quilt bed.
I'll come look with you."
They went back over to
the table, where Headtunnel
had a stack of several laptops
now repurposed as cat beds.
Those looked the same as ever,
but one had a big silver cat
curled up on top of it.
A cat who was poking
at the keys with a finger.
"Look, mommy, the cat
has hands," Afra said.
"Yeah, this is Sterling,"
said Headtunnel. "He is
the son of Silverfish, so he
got hands from his daddy."
"That's why we brought
Silverfish here," said Anna.
"He's a fishcat, and they often
have extra toes or actual hands.
We even have a few cats who
like playing kitty computer games.
Sterling just likes to poke the keys."
"I love how the people here can
think of ways to reuse everything,
even the hard things," said Karimah.
"Me too," said Anna. "I like making
quilts, and there are always scraps
so I don't have to buy new fabric
unless I just feel like doing it."
They drifted back to their seats
and saw that the other sweater bed
now held the orange-and-black calico.
Karimah picked up another sweater
to make into a bed, now that she
knew how to do it by herself.
The purring cats helped her
relax into an easy rhythm.
Since she didn't need to focus
so closely on her work, she
could spare attention to talk.
Besides, Karimah missed
the chatter that had filled
crafting circles back in Syria.
"Did you get the recipe that
I sent?" she asked Chenille.
"We got it and sent it out to
our subscribers," Chenille said.
"Thank you for sharing that!"
"Everyone is raving about
your lamb and rhubarb stew,"
Felicity said. "Raving. I heard
Bob's Market ran out of goat meat
and he had to call up Ramon
for an emergency delivery."
"Oh dear," said Karimah.
"But that should be good for
Ramon's business, right?"
"Yeah, but it's extra work,"
said Felicity. "Then Aurinda
felt sorry for Ramon and took out
a big pot the stew for his trouble.
So then the Syrians staying with him
smelled it, and they came running from
all over like cats hearing a can opener."
Karimah chuckled. She had seen that
with teen boys when someone's mother
opened the door and let out supper smells.
Sharing recipes and talking about food
made her feel more at home than
she had since leaving Darayyah.
It was a good way to make
connections with people.
Karimah would have to find
more recipes to share, if they
were received this well.
Cats weren't the only
connoisseurs of comfort.
* * *
Notes:
This poem is long, so its character, setting, and content notes will appear elsewhere.
Re: Yes ...
Date: 2023-03-28 05:21 am (UTC)Re: Yes ...
Date: 2023-03-28 05:27 am (UTC)Re: Yes ...
Date: 2023-03-28 05:41 am (UTC)Unrelated, I wish it were easier to find info about maintaining psychological health of pets. I.e. how to deal with grief and trauma in animals?
Re: Yes ...
Date: 2023-03-28 05:55 am (UTC)Grief, there's not much you can do other than pet them and wait it out.
Trauma has some treatments, like counterconditioning to break down triggers. This is much more effective and less dangerous than standard exposure therapy, which tries to grind away triggers by brute force (and can make them worse).
Re: Yes ...
Date: 2023-03-28 06:06 am (UTC)Sensory Issues Cat outlived Bonded Sibling, and spent most of the remainder of his life* looking for Sibling.
*They both had a very long life of 17-18 years, just, one outlived the other.
A dog (companion breed) survived a traumatic event, and (quite understandably given the event) hated being left alone or put in his crate. I was pretty sure he had PTSD or something.
Re: Yes ...
Date: 2023-03-28 06:14 am (UTC)*They both had a very long life of 17-18 years, just, one outlived the other. <<
The only thing I can think of for that would be to ask Bastet or another cat deity for assistance. Which at that age, would likely just assist the survivor with dying.
>> A dog (companion breed) survived a traumatic event, and (quite understandably given the event) hated being left alone or put in his crate. I was pretty sure he had PTSD or something.<<
Probably fixable with counterconditioning.
Re: Yes ...
Date: 2023-03-28 06:33 am (UTC)Re: Yes ...
Date: 2023-03-29 01:16 am (UTC)>> Probably fixable with counterconditioning.
Can confirm, Loiosh got scared BAD when he was still pretty young by a diesel truck doing the air brake thing -- big truck hissed at him, totally understandable -- & I used counterconditioning over the next year or two to get him okay with them again. Took a while -- mostly because started out using treats as the positive thing, when it turned out he just wanted love.
Re: Yes ...
Date: 2023-03-29 01:30 am (UTC)I will note that the counterconditioning article assumes that food is the best reward. This works for some but not all pets. While food is a survival need and thus very attention-getting for many organisms, not all pets are food-reward. Those who are love-reward or play-reward may need a different approach.
This is especially relevant in using the techniques with people. You have to know what they value most.
Re: Yes ...
Date: 2023-03-29 01:42 am (UTC)Re: Yes ...
Date: 2023-03-30 05:35 am (UTC)I saw the sun unset itself once. I knew there had to be a rational, scientific explanation (at least in this world) and yes, I found it. But the experience was still really fucking creepy.