Comments | ysabetwordsmith: Poem: "Down the Drain"

ysabetwordsmith

Poem: "Down the Drain"

Jul 06, 2011 15:33

This poem came out of the July 5, 2011 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by prompts from ellenmillion and aldersprig, who wanted to go adventuring in sewers. It also ties in with the "golden rule" prompt from janetmiles -- whereas most fantasy governments are monarchies, this one is a plutocracy, which has an interesting influence on culture and character perspectives. (See the ( Read more... )

fantasy, reading, writing, fishbowl, poetry, cyberfunded creativity, poem, economics

Comments 13

janetmiles July 6 2011, 20:41:23 UTC

That's delightful -- well done, Ehlon! Good use of common sense, networking, and imagination.

Thank you! ysabetwordsmith July 6 2011, 20:58:08 UTC

Ehlon taps the brim of his flat little hat and replies, "Just doing my job, ma'am."

siege July 6 2011, 23:02:49 UTC

I love every character you write who manages to solve problems from "beneath" instead of "above".

Yay! ysabetwordsmith July 6 2011, 23:07:29 UTC

You'll have a ball with this month's offerings, then. That's a key aspect of low fantasy as a genre, and a reason why I love it.

I'm also charmed that "Down the Drain" and "All That Glitters" give a matched set of perspectives, one below the city and one from its heights.

eseme July 7 2011, 00:27:16 UTC

Excellent!

I do like everyday magic, and I really like Ehlon's solutions.

I am very impressed that you made the sewers seem a magical place (I am sure that they aren't).

Thoughts ysabetwordsmith July 7 2011, 02:09:07 UTC

>>Excellent!

I do like everyday magic, and I really like Ehlon's solutions. <<

Yay! I'm glad you enjoyed this poem.

>>I am very impressed that you made the sewers seem a magical place (I am sure that they aren't).<<

Ah, but they can be, if you know what makes them so; even in our world. I have a thing for kidney gardens and swamp filters -- little ecosystems designed to purify wastewater, because Nature has designs for that which can be copied. Now this particular sewer doesn't look like it was designed that way from scratch, but has attracted its own ecosystem and people have learned to assist the beneficial elements. The gatormaids are probably predators. The dung dragons manage methane and prevent it from building up to cause dangerous explosions. The brick wights ... I think they're kind of pests, because they do wreck brick and mortar, but they're probably also the ones who deal with cave-ins and other rubble/obstruction problems. And the mireslime is a kidney organism, removing contaminants from water ( ... )

Re: Thoughts eseme July 7 2011, 02:18:31 UTC

I will admit to also being intrigued by gardens designed to filter water. They put one in at a new Lake Resource center that opens this fall.

I'll have to take a look.

Re: Thoughts ysabetwordsmith July 7 2011, 02:46:00 UTC

They're really cool and can be beautiful as well as functional. There are deepwater versions that use floating plants such as water hyacinth (which I've grown for fun). There are marsh versions with shallow water that run kind of a maze structure. Then there are gravelbed versions where the water is all kept below the surface. They all use different structures and plants.

Here's one example:
http://jeffshome.net/jeffshome/pond/swamp/swpdiag.html

Thread 6

mdlbear July 7 2011, 00:42:15 UTC

Oh, nice!

helgatwb April 3 2014, 00:08:24 UTC

This is great! I could go on for ages about how every part of this is perfect.

On another note, my husband used to be a sewer/water worker, and boy are they underappreciated. So it's nice to have a sewer worker hero.

Thank you! ysabetwordsmith April 3 2014, 00:39:33 UTC

>> This is great! I could go on for ages about how every part of this is perfect. <<

I'm happy to hear that.

>> On another note, my husband used to be a sewer/water worker, and boy are they underappreciated. So it's nice to have a sewer worker hero. <<

Yay! In my writing, ANYONE can be a hero.