Poem: "Ĉiu Kreas Sian Forton"

[ysabetwordsmith]

This poem came out of the June 2, 2026 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from fuzzyred. It also fills the "Pin" square in my 6-1-26 card for the Pride Fest Bingo. This poem has been sponsored by janetmiles. It belongs to the Big One and Shiv threads of the Polychrome Heroics series.


"Ĉiu Kreas Sian Forton"

[Evening of Monday, June 6, 2016]

The day had gone well, and
Shiv was pleasantly tired.

After supper, people were
gathering in clusters to share
stories or work on things that
didn't involve bending metal.

Edison, Blainn, and a bunch
of other kids were working
through an Esperanto lesson.

Blainn had a set of flash cards
with English on one side and
Esperanto on the other side.

Edison, however, had a bunch
of Montessori three-part cards
with a picture card, a label card, and
a control card for checking your work.

Shiv only knew a handful of words
in Esperanto -- mostly the names
of vegetables that Dr. G disliked --
but he loved vocabulary cards.

He could pin those to his word wall
at home and learn at his own pace.

"Hi, Hugo," said Edison. "Do you
want to work with us? We have
plenty of cards to choose from."

Shiv hesitated. "I um ... I don't
really need to know those."

"Sure you do," Edison chirped.
"You're a supervillain and
they use Esperanto a lot."

"I believe that's mostly folks
from Kraken," said Dr. G.

"Yeah, but they get around
all over the place," said Blainn.

"It's up to Hugo if he wants
to learn or not," said Dr. G.
"Let's not pressure him."

"Do you ... think I should?"
Shiv said, turning a bottlecap
over and over in his fingers.

"It's up to you," said Dr. G.
"Ĉiu kreas sian forton,
ĉiu forĝas sian sorton.
Everyone creates
their own strength,
everyone forges
their own destiny."

Shiv perked up. "Are
there cards for that?"

"Esperanto sayings are
on a flyer," Dr. G said,
handing him one. "Why
don't you compare this
with the three-part cards
and see if you can find
any words in common?"

Not read the words,
not memorize what
any of them meant,
just look for matches.

"Okay," said Shiv. "I
think I can do that."

Who knows, it might
prove useful someday.

* * *

Notes:

Ĉiu kreas sian forton, ĉiu forĝas sian sorton.
• Translation: Everyone creates their own strength, everyone forges their own destiny.
• English equivalent: Every man is the smith of his own fortune.

"So Many Styles of Food" 8-10-22
Story Date: Monday, June 6, 2016
Summary: After the Big One, Shiv makes campfire cooking equipment.

"Walnut Park" 3-3-26
Story Date: Monday, June 6, 2016
Summary: Boss Blaster looks at an empty lot and imagines a food truck park.

Esperanto Flash Cards

Montessori 3-Part Cards: The Why & How

Comments

[janetmiles]

Shiv has a given name! I hadn't noticed that before. I wish him well with the Esperanto.

Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> Shiv has a given name! <<

It's a bit of a long story. His birth name was Egon Harrison, which he never liked. He took the name Hugo Lightfingers when the Finns brought him to Pennsic War; a previous foster sibling had mangled "Egon" into "Hugo," more or less. So "Hugo" stuck as a family name with the Finns. Eventually, Shiv agreed for Tolli and Simon to adopt him officially, and switched his legal name to Hugo Finn. It fits him a lot better. But he still goes by Shiv most of the time.

>> I hadn't noticed that before. I wish him well with the Esperanto.<<

Shiv is poor at learning many things, and not great with languages. But he has discovered a few methods that work well for him, like the three-part cards and the word wall. He really does have about a third-grade reading level at best, so activities for that level are more likely to suit him. I suspect he could learn enough Esperanto vocabulary to read labels on things, or perhaps baby books. That may prove useful, given that Kraken does use Esperanto and Shiv is a supervillain.