Poem: "No Such Thing as Finished"
Jul. 6th, 2025 06:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithThis poem is spillover from the July 1, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from jake67jake. It also fills the "He's all hat and no cattle." square in my 7-1-25 card for the Western Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by janetmiles. It belongs to the series Polychrome Heroics.
"No Such Thing as Finished"
[Thursday, July 3, 2014]
Naida had just showered and
changed clothes after work
when Benicio Navarro
called her into his office.
"We got a complaint
from the Little S in regard
to your service," he said.
Naida snorted. "He's all hat
and no cattle," she declared.
She knew most of people
who had a homestead in
Red River County, where
she and her team took care
of the small farms whenever
the owners went on vacation.
The office was in Clarkesville,
so they had a good range of
work sites around it. Most
of the homesteaders were
good people, but some of
them were complete idiots.
"Still, he claimed that your team
left both of his gates open, allowing
his dogs to escape," said Mr. Navarro.
"Did you take any other photographs
besides the ones that we send out
to the customers when you mark
a job as completed on your tablet?"
"Sure," said Naida. "Little S is
small and falling apart, but it
does have beautiful scenery."
She offered him her smartphone.
Mr. Navarro transferred the files
to his computer and brought them up.
There was the starting picture of
Naida and her team by their van
in their Homestead Helpers shirts.
More pictures showed them
letting the dogs out of the kennel
to play fetch on long leashes.
They fed the chickens and
the pair of nanny goats.
They put down dry food
for the barn cats, who all
turned up their noses.
The next photo showed
the tail end of a rat.
"No wonder the cats
weren't very hungry,"
Mr. Navarro mused.
Naida had even handed
her phone to a friend so he
could show her in Water Form
refilling all of the water troughs,
sunlight spilling through her
to cast rainbows on the ground.
Other pictures captured glimpses
of songbirds, wildflowers in bloom,
and a jackrabbit cleaning its ears.
Several more followed the line of
low rolling hills along the horizon.
The kennel gate was fastened
with twine that held a note:
Latch does not hold.
Another set of images
showed the outer fence
and its gate, closed, along
with places where the fence
sagged or had gaps under it.
One piece of fence wire had
caught a large tuft of dog hair.
The last picture showed the team
back at the van after their work.
"It looks like you finished the job
fine to me," said Mr. Navarro. "I'll
send the client the extra pictures
and bill him for an assessment
of the necessary repairs."
That was another service
they offered, spotting things
that needed to be fixed soon.
"A farm is a manipulative creature.
There is no such thing as finished,"
said Naida. "The work comes in
a stream and has no end. There are
only things that must be done now
and things that can be done later."
"I do wonder how the dogs got
out of the kennel, though, since
you tied it shut," said Mr. Navarro.
"Some dogs can untie knots, and
all of them can chew through things,"
said Naida. "We couldn't find any wire
or we'd have fastened the gate with that."
Mr. Navarro made a note. "I'll add wire
to the toolkit for teams doing farm work."
"Don't worry about the Little S. I'll cancel
the contract; it's just too much trouble."
"Thanks," said Naida. Then she smirked.
"I wish that I could see his face when
he receives that expanded bill."
"I wouldn't mind having a picture
of that myself," said Mr. Navarro.
He supervised a whole bunch of
folks who had superpowers but
didn't want to be supervillains,
not just the Homestead Helpers.
He was really good at that, too,
which made her job easier.
Naida was glad that she
wasn't alone anymore and
had friends to watch her back.
* * *
Notes:
This poem is long, so its notes appear separately.
jake67jake. It also fills the "He's all hat and no cattle." square in my 7-1-25 card for the Western Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by janetmiles. It belongs to the series Polychrome Heroics."No Such Thing as Finished"
[Thursday, July 3, 2014]
Naida had just showered and
changed clothes after work
when Benicio Navarro
called her into his office.
"We got a complaint
from the Little S in regard
to your service," he said.
Naida snorted. "He's all hat
and no cattle," she declared.
She knew most of people
who had a homestead in
Red River County, where
she and her team took care
of the small farms whenever
the owners went on vacation.
The office was in Clarkesville,
so they had a good range of
work sites around it. Most
of the homesteaders were
good people, but some of
them were complete idiots.
"Still, he claimed that your team
left both of his gates open, allowing
his dogs to escape," said Mr. Navarro.
"Did you take any other photographs
besides the ones that we send out
to the customers when you mark
a job as completed on your tablet?"
"Sure," said Naida. "Little S is
small and falling apart, but it
does have beautiful scenery."
She offered him her smartphone.
Mr. Navarro transferred the files
to his computer and brought them up.
There was the starting picture of
Naida and her team by their van
in their Homestead Helpers shirts.
More pictures showed them
letting the dogs out of the kennel
to play fetch on long leashes.
They fed the chickens and
the pair of nanny goats.
They put down dry food
for the barn cats, who all
turned up their noses.
The next photo showed
the tail end of a rat.
"No wonder the cats
weren't very hungry,"
Mr. Navarro mused.
Naida had even handed
her phone to a friend so he
could show her in Water Form
refilling all of the water troughs,
sunlight spilling through her
to cast rainbows on the ground.
Other pictures captured glimpses
of songbirds, wildflowers in bloom,
and a jackrabbit cleaning its ears.
Several more followed the line of
low rolling hills along the horizon.
The kennel gate was fastened
with twine that held a note:
Latch does not hold.
Another set of images
showed the outer fence
and its gate, closed, along
with places where the fence
sagged or had gaps under it.
One piece of fence wire had
caught a large tuft of dog hair.
The last picture showed the team
back at the van after their work.
"It looks like you finished the job
fine to me," said Mr. Navarro. "I'll
send the client the extra pictures
and bill him for an assessment
of the necessary repairs."
That was another service
they offered, spotting things
that needed to be fixed soon.
"A farm is a manipulative creature.
There is no such thing as finished,"
said Naida. "The work comes in
a stream and has no end. There are
only things that must be done now
and things that can be done later."
"I do wonder how the dogs got
out of the kennel, though, since
you tied it shut," said Mr. Navarro.
"Some dogs can untie knots, and
all of them can chew through things,"
said Naida. "We couldn't find any wire
or we'd have fastened the gate with that."
Mr. Navarro made a note. "I'll add wire
to the toolkit for teams doing farm work."
"Don't worry about the Little S. I'll cancel
the contract; it's just too much trouble."
"Thanks," said Naida. Then she smirked.
"I wish that I could see his face when
he receives that expanded bill."
"I wouldn't mind having a picture
of that myself," said Mr. Navarro.
He supervised a whole bunch of
folks who had superpowers but
didn't want to be supervillains,
not just the Homestead Helpers.
He was really good at that, too,
which made her job easier.
Naida was glad that she
wasn't alone anymore and
had friends to watch her back.
* * *
Notes:
This poem is long, so its notes appear separately.
