Poem: "For Those Who Work at It"
Sep. 3rd, 2025 01:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithThis poem came out of the September 3, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired and sponsored by fuzzyred. It also fills the "parrot" square in my 9-1-25 card for the Piracy Bingo Fest. This poem belongs to the Dr. Infanta thread of the Polychrome Heroics series. It happens after "The Outside of a Horse" and "Inside of Him a Piece of Good News," so it will make more sense if you read those first.
"For Those Who Work at It"
[Monday, August 11, 2014]
Speech therapy was a big success.
So far, they had discussed body language
for horses and humans, how they differed,
and aspects of interspecies communication.
They had also covered assistive equipment,
so Judd now had a set of speech boards
that he could point to using his nose.
They were working on a smaller set, but
he would need a mouth pointer for those,
and that was taking longer to learn.
Currently Judd was trying to memorize
a bunch of new vocabulary words.
Since they had two sessions a week,
Amanda had suggested dividing those
to work human terms one day and
then horse terms the other day.
That meant listening to Judd
repeat things like "action," "aids,"
and "airs above the ground"
while trying not to mumble.
The human vocabulary came
from a Swadesh list, with Judd
going over "one, two, many."
"You'll get the hang of this,"
Alicia said, and Judd nodded.
It was slow, but it was progress,
and that was a good thing.
"Communication works
for those who work at it,"
as Amanda phrased it.
[Monday, September 8, 2014]
When they went to the pony club,
Judd's new exercises proved popular.
Amanda had encouraged him to get
all the conversation practice he could.
Hermione, Pippa, Dickon, and Arran
were the most excited about it.
"We usually tell the ponies
what to do," said Hermione.
"Judd should get a chance
to tell us what to do, but if he
doesn't say it right, then we get
to mess it up like ponies do."
Pony club involved a lot of
ponies messing around
due to novice riders.
Pippa came over with
her arms full of rings,
cups, balls, flags, and
other gymkhana gear.
Dickon and Arran talked
about which games would
best suit their intentions.
Those children had
a surprisingly good ear
and would only obey Judd
when he said the words right.
Since they hadn't gotten to
the names of gymkhana gear
in speech therapy yet, that
involved a lot of horsing around.
After the exercises were over,
Liam and Fionnuala worked him
just as hard in conversation as
the club members discussed
which awards to give out.
They gave Judd a ribbon
that read, Best Talking Horse.
[Monday, October 6, 2014]
By October, Amanda had
figured out which sounds
gave Judd the most trouble.
She then offered him a variety
of methods to practice them.
Judd did the silly exercises
for his face, mouth, and voice.
What he loved best, though,
were the tongue twisters.
Alicia listened to an hour of him
parroting "She sells seashells
by the seashore," before
clapping her hands over
her ears and groaning,
"Oh my gawwwd, how long
do we have to listen to this?"
"Well now, that depends,"
Amanda replied. "How
much do you love him?"
"A lot," said Alicia.
"Then you listen until
he gets it perfect, at
which point you cheer,"
Amanda explained.
So that's what they did.
* * *
Notes:
"Communication works for those who work at it."
-- John Powell
Glossary of Equestrian Terms
Swadesh List
Gymkhanas are games played on horseback (or ponyback) to demonstrate riding skills. They often involve riding around obstacles, picking up objects, and placing objects on targets -- all as fast as possible. They are a mainstay of most pony clubs. Judd loves gymkhanas because, like dressage, they rely on a great deal of communication and precision.
50 Tongue Twisters in English
fuzzyred. It also fills the "parrot" square in my 9-1-25 card for the Piracy Bingo Fest. This poem belongs to the Dr. Infanta thread of the Polychrome Heroics series. It happens after "The Outside of a Horse" and "Inside of Him a Piece of Good News," so it will make more sense if you read those first."For Those Who Work at It"
[Monday, August 11, 2014]
Speech therapy was a big success.
So far, they had discussed body language
for horses and humans, how they differed,
and aspects of interspecies communication.
They had also covered assistive equipment,
so Judd now had a set of speech boards
that he could point to using his nose.
They were working on a smaller set, but
he would need a mouth pointer for those,
and that was taking longer to learn.
Currently Judd was trying to memorize
a bunch of new vocabulary words.
Since they had two sessions a week,
Amanda had suggested dividing those
to work human terms one day and
then horse terms the other day.
That meant listening to Judd
repeat things like "action," "aids,"
and "airs above the ground"
while trying not to mumble.
The human vocabulary came
from a Swadesh list, with Judd
going over "one, two, many."
"You'll get the hang of this,"
Alicia said, and Judd nodded.
It was slow, but it was progress,
and that was a good thing.
"Communication works
for those who work at it,"
as Amanda phrased it.
[Monday, September 8, 2014]
When they went to the pony club,
Judd's new exercises proved popular.
Amanda had encouraged him to get
all the conversation practice he could.
Hermione, Pippa, Dickon, and Arran
were the most excited about it.
"We usually tell the ponies
what to do," said Hermione.
"Judd should get a chance
to tell us what to do, but if he
doesn't say it right, then we get
to mess it up like ponies do."
Pony club involved a lot of
ponies messing around
due to novice riders.
Pippa came over with
her arms full of rings,
cups, balls, flags, and
other gymkhana gear.
Dickon and Arran talked
about which games would
best suit their intentions.
Those children had
a surprisingly good ear
and would only obey Judd
when he said the words right.
Since they hadn't gotten to
the names of gymkhana gear
in speech therapy yet, that
involved a lot of horsing around.
After the exercises were over,
Liam and Fionnuala worked him
just as hard in conversation as
the club members discussed
which awards to give out.
They gave Judd a ribbon
that read, Best Talking Horse.
[Monday, October 6, 2014]
By October, Amanda had
figured out which sounds
gave Judd the most trouble.
She then offered him a variety
of methods to practice them.
Judd did the silly exercises
for his face, mouth, and voice.
What he loved best, though,
were the tongue twisters.
Alicia listened to an hour of him
parroting "She sells seashells
by the seashore," before
clapping her hands over
her ears and groaning,
"Oh my gawwwd, how long
do we have to listen to this?"
"Well now, that depends,"
Amanda replied. "How
much do you love him?"
"A lot," said Alicia.
"Then you listen until
he gets it perfect, at
which point you cheer,"
Amanda explained.
So that's what they did.
* * *
Notes:
"Communication works for those who work at it."
-- John Powell
Glossary of Equestrian Terms
Swadesh List
Gymkhanas are games played on horseback (or ponyback) to demonstrate riding skills. They often involve riding around obstacles, picking up objects, and placing objects on targets -- all as fast as possible. They are a mainstay of most pony clubs. Judd loves gymkhanas because, like dressage, they rely on a great deal of communication and precision.
50 Tongue Twisters in English
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Date: 2025-09-03 08:31 pm (UTC)Thank you!
Date: 2025-09-04 01:42 am (UTC)