Poem: "Recognize Your Disabilities But Emphasize Your Possibilities"
This poem is spillover from the December 6, 2022 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from Dreamwidth user Librarygeek. It also fills the "Rainstorm" square in my 12-1-22 card for the Wonders of Nature Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by DW user Fuzzyred. It belongs to the Shiv thread of the Polychrome Heroics series.
"Recognize Your Disabilities But Emphasize Your Possibilities"
[Saturday, June 4, 2016]
It was pouring rain when Shiv
scampered into Hanson Hall,
shaking his head to fling off
shining droplets of rainwater.
The water was warm enough,
there was just so much of it,
unexpected so he hadn't brought
an umbrella or even a windbreaker.
He walked briskly through the building,
letting his superpower drift along
the brick walls and the bits of
glass and metal that made up
artwork by other members.
Then he noticed that some
of the titanium was wiggling.
What the actual fuck?
Curious, Shiv backpedaled
until he found a man carrying
a frisky black cat who was
not happy about the rain.
The bits of titanium were,
somehow, stuck to its legs.
"What happened to your cat?"
Shiv blurted, staring at them.
"Peggy lost her back feet
to frostbite, so now she has
prosthetic ones," the man said
with an easy smile. "Hi, I'm Ahimsa
and I work at the Dobutsu Kannon
Temple of Animal Care, sometimes
at the Tikkun Olam Collective too.
This is Peggy, one of our art models."
"Um? I'm Shiv," he said. "Sorry, I'm new
here, just rented a studio earlier this week
since I stashed some West Coast friends
in my old apartment. You weren't on
the tour that I got from Simcha then."
"Simcha is a mensch," said Ahimsa.
"He probably just skipped the Temple
because our office here isn't open
every day. It has some hours for
business, open studio, art classes,
and various counseling sessions."
"Like art therapy?" Shiv guessed.
"We offer some therapeutic art,"
said Ahimsa. "We also have
other kinds of counseling. I've
got the Equestrian Oratory certs
for abandonment, birth defects,
educational trauma, foster care,
and miscellaneous abuses."
"That's ... I'm on that list,"
Shiv admitted. "More'n once."
"Mmm?" said Ahimsa. "Peggy
and I are happy to listen, if
you'd like to share anything."
"Educational trauma, foster care,
some uh ... other stuff," Shiv said.
He didn't talk about it much, but
Ahimsa seemed kind of warm and
cushy, reminding Shiv of Dr. G.
"Bummer," said Ahimsa. "You
might like to swing by the Temple
some time. We have free classes
as well as paid, and some are
free for Hanson Hall members."
Shiv smirked. "Yeah well, Nebraska
dropped the ball and now owes me
a buttload of money," he said. "Might
as well spend some of that on you."
"We can use all the help we can get,"
said Ahimsa. "The Temple takes in
a lot of abandoned or injured animals,
though they help with their own upkeep."
"How's that work?" Shiv wondered.
He knew it wasn't cheap to keep pets,
because he put out food for alley cats.
"Some of the animals, like Peggy here,
pose as art models," Ahimsa said as
he stroked her so she started purring.
"You're lucky to have her," said Shiv.
"If cats get injured, they don't always
survive. 'Sides, most folks don't care
for anyone who looks too ... broken."
"Don't I know it," Ahimsa said.
"We have a special veterinarian
for our animals. Debbye Harriet
is disabled too, missing an arm, so
she sympathizes with our rescues.
Plus I have a personal angle."
"How personal?" Shiv asked
That could get complicated.
"My birth parents took one look at
the way my back curves and left
me at the hospital," Ahimsa said.
Well, yeah, his backbone did
twist around on itself so that
his right arm hung down lower
than his left, but Shiv hadn't
paid much attention until then.
"Wow," he said. "I finally
met someone with parents
more assholish than mine."
"Stuff happens," said Ahimsa.
"Eventually I found better people."
"Yeah, me too," Shiv said fondly,
thinking of his sprawl of Finns.
"Besides, I have plenty of
animals now, and they're
good at teaching joy in life,
especially the ones who live
with disabilities," said Ahimsa.
"Like how?" Shiv wondered,
struggling to put it together.
"A true friend should know
your weaknesses but show you
your strengths, feel your fears but
fortify your faith, see your anxieties
but free your spirit, and recognize
your disabilities but emphasize
your possibilities," said Ahimsa.
"A lot of times, animals do that
better than humans can."
"Oh," said Shiv. "Yeah,
it makes more sense now."
He was tempted, and intrigued,
by the idea of trying to draw Peggy,
who was currently sucking the collar
of Ahimsa's cat Buddha T-shirt.
"Just some of the many benefits
we offer at the Temple," said Ahimsa.
"Ideally, support flows both ways."
"So, you got a donation page
with suggested levels on it, or
do I gotta guess?" Shiv asked.
"We sure do," Ahimsa said.
He boosted Peggy half over
his shoulder so that he could
reach his smartphone. "Here's
our website, just use the menu
to navigate where you want."
Shiv read the web address,
then brought it up on his phone.
It was a pretty interesting site.
Pictures showed present and
past animals at the temple,
including a litter of kittens
and a cat with only one eye.
There was a dog with three legs,
and another in a tiny wheelchair.
Shiv realized that Simon would
love the hell out of this place.
Humming happily to himself, he
chose the $1000 per year level.
Moments later, Ahimsa's phone
jingled an alert that made him
switch to a different screen.
"Dude," he said, impressed.
"Thank you so much! Would
you like to do the tours today?"
"Office tour," Shiv said. "I don't
want to go out in the rain again."
"Oh good, Peggy and I don't either,"
said Ahimsa. "Come on, the office
is back in an odd little corner."
Hanson Hall had been divided
and opened up and redivided
so many times that it had a lot
of curious nooks and crannies.
Shiv wondered how much else
he had not discovered yet.
"So we've got the office here,
which has a business area,
the studio where you can pick
a desk, and the classroom,"
Ahimsa said, leading the way.
"I've got a studio the size of
a small apartment," Shiv said.
"And I can bring critters there
to visit if you want, but it's nice
to have some art stuff in the studio
for group sessions," Ahimsa said,
trailing his free hand along the wall.
"Fair point," Shiv said, since there
was no such thing as too much
space to put his art stuff in.
"You get a discount on
all the classes that cost,
and once a month you can
waive any material fees up to
a certain amount," said Ahimsa.
"Materials cost extra?" Shiv said.
"Some of the workshops I've done
do that, but others don't cost anything."
"It depends on the media," said Ahimsa.
"Charcoal is cheap, acrylic paint affordable,
but oil paint and pastels are expensive."
"Oil paint, huh?" said Shiv as they
reached the office. "Mind if I
take a picture of your door?"
"Okay?" said Ahimsa. "I mean,
go ahead, but whatever for?"
"I want to send it to a friend,"
Shiv said. He snapped a photo
of the Temple sign, then wrote
an email message to Rob Ross.
I gave my old apartment to
some friends and I rented
a new art studio. This here's
one of my new neighbors. You
got any oil paints to donate?
Rob was a softie, and he
loved painting wildlife. He'd
probably pitch in whatever was
going spare at the art company,
because Shiv had seen him
chip in art supplies before.
Ahimsa waited until Shiv
finished typing, then opened
the door for him. "Come on in."
They bumped shoulders a bit
going through the doorway, but
Ahimsa didn't seem to mind.
Inside the office, rain rattled
briskly against the windows.
The little business area had
a wooden table with a rolling chair.
Shelves held houseplants and
artwork, with more plants in
big pots sitting on the floor.
A dottie wedged between
the entrance and the desk.
The art studio was crammed
with more shelves, desks,
easels, and rolling art carts.
Ahimsa walked through,
holding Peggy with one hand
and trailing the other hand over
everything that he passed.
Shiv watched, intrigued, since
he rarely saw anyone else do that.
Ahimsa put the cat down and
said, "Want to pick a table?"
Peggy bounded over to Shiv,
standing on her rubber paws
so she could reach up to knead
her claws against his jeans.
"I look like a cat tree?"
Shiv drawled as he
looked down at her.
She blinked up at him,
moon-pale eyes shining.
"Peggy, be nice to Shiv,"
Ahimsa scolded the cat.
"We want him to like us!"
She thumped back to the floor,
then stropped herself on Shiv's legs.
If he couldn't feel the dancing metal,
Shiv wouldn't have known that she
was anything out of the ordinary.
It was going to be so much fun
to draw her with her titanium feet
and their little rubber ends like
the kind under chair legs.
Shiv looked around and
picked out a plain white desk
that had several rails and
cups above it for art supplies.
"This'll do," he said. "I can
bring over some stuff later."
He had enough that he could
probably put together a sketch kit,
some watercolors and pastels,
sketchbooks and papers, without
needing to buy anything new.
"Sure, we're here until six today,"
said Ahimsa. "Would you like
to see the classroom? I brought
Peggy early so she has time
to calm down. She's posing
at two and four o'clock."
Shiv immediately took out
his phone and keyed in
the session times. "Yeah."
The classroom was just
a big open space that had
the same hardwood floor as
the rest of the Temple, part
of its wall in brick and part
in smooth paint hung with
various arts and crafts.
Folding chairs and tables
stacked along the walls,
waiting for the students.
"Nice place," Shiv said,
looking at the lights and
the rain-wet windows.
"Yeah, we can fit two or
three dozen people in here,
but I try not to crowd too much,"
said Ahimsa. "It's easier if
the artists have more space."
That way you had less risk of
tripping over anyone's easel,
which Shiv had actually seen
in another art class once.
Ahimsa's phone chimed.
He looked at it, then squeaked.
"Is this you?" he said, turning it
around. "Did you do this?"
There was a donation of
a dozen oil painting kits.
"Yeah, I know Rob Ross,
and he loves animals, so
I figured that he'd want
in on this," Shiv admitted.
"Thank you so much, dude,"
said Ahimsa. "We can really
use this. Wet-on-wet works
great for animal portraits."
"I've done some like that,
so thought it was worth
a try," Shiv agreed.
Peggy bounded around
the room, her paws going
pat-pat-tap-tap on the floor.
Watching her antics made Shiv
throw back his head and laugh.
"Do you want to grab a pencil
and paper so you can make
a few sketches while Peggy
works out the jitters a bit?"
Ahimsa offered. "No cost,
doesn't count as a session."
Shiv grinned. "Don't mind
if I do," he said, and went
to rummage for supplies.
Oh yeah, Ahimsa was
trying to butter him like
a biscuit, but that was fine.
They might all be a bit broken,
but it was about recognizing
your disabilities while still
emphasizing your possibilities.
Shiv was totally smooth with that.
* * *
Notes:
This poem is long, so its character, setting, and content notes will appear separately.
"Recognize Your Disabilities But Emphasize Your Possibilities"
[Saturday, June 4, 2016]
It was pouring rain when Shiv
scampered into Hanson Hall,
shaking his head to fling off
shining droplets of rainwater.
The water was warm enough,
there was just so much of it,
unexpected so he hadn't brought
an umbrella or even a windbreaker.
He walked briskly through the building,
letting his superpower drift along
the brick walls and the bits of
glass and metal that made up
artwork by other members.
Then he noticed that some
of the titanium was wiggling.
What the actual fuck?
Curious, Shiv backpedaled
until he found a man carrying
a frisky black cat who was
not happy about the rain.
The bits of titanium were,
somehow, stuck to its legs.
"What happened to your cat?"
Shiv blurted, staring at them.
"Peggy lost her back feet
to frostbite, so now she has
prosthetic ones," the man said
with an easy smile. "Hi, I'm Ahimsa
and I work at the Dobutsu Kannon
Temple of Animal Care, sometimes
at the Tikkun Olam Collective too.
This is Peggy, one of our art models."
"Um? I'm Shiv," he said. "Sorry, I'm new
here, just rented a studio earlier this week
since I stashed some West Coast friends
in my old apartment. You weren't on
the tour that I got from Simcha then."
"Simcha is a mensch," said Ahimsa.
"He probably just skipped the Temple
because our office here isn't open
every day. It has some hours for
business, open studio, art classes,
and various counseling sessions."
"Like art therapy?" Shiv guessed.
"We offer some therapeutic art,"
said Ahimsa. "We also have
other kinds of counseling. I've
got the Equestrian Oratory certs
for abandonment, birth defects,
educational trauma, foster care,
and miscellaneous abuses."
"That's ... I'm on that list,"
Shiv admitted. "More'n once."
"Mmm?" said Ahimsa. "Peggy
and I are happy to listen, if
you'd like to share anything."
"Educational trauma, foster care,
some uh ... other stuff," Shiv said.
He didn't talk about it much, but
Ahimsa seemed kind of warm and
cushy, reminding Shiv of Dr. G.
"Bummer," said Ahimsa. "You
might like to swing by the Temple
some time. We have free classes
as well as paid, and some are
free for Hanson Hall members."
Shiv smirked. "Yeah well, Nebraska
dropped the ball and now owes me
a buttload of money," he said. "Might
as well spend some of that on you."
"We can use all the help we can get,"
said Ahimsa. "The Temple takes in
a lot of abandoned or injured animals,
though they help with their own upkeep."
"How's that work?" Shiv wondered.
He knew it wasn't cheap to keep pets,
because he put out food for alley cats.
"Some of the animals, like Peggy here,
pose as art models," Ahimsa said as
he stroked her so she started purring.
"You're lucky to have her," said Shiv.
"If cats get injured, they don't always
survive. 'Sides, most folks don't care
for anyone who looks too ... broken."
"Don't I know it," Ahimsa said.
"We have a special veterinarian
for our animals. Debbye Harriet
is disabled too, missing an arm, so
she sympathizes with our rescues.
Plus I have a personal angle."
"How personal?" Shiv asked
That could get complicated.
"My birth parents took one look at
the way my back curves and left
me at the hospital," Ahimsa said.
Well, yeah, his backbone did
twist around on itself so that
his right arm hung down lower
than his left, but Shiv hadn't
paid much attention until then.
"Wow," he said. "I finally
met someone with parents
more assholish than mine."
"Stuff happens," said Ahimsa.
"Eventually I found better people."
"Yeah, me too," Shiv said fondly,
thinking of his sprawl of Finns.
"Besides, I have plenty of
animals now, and they're
good at teaching joy in life,
especially the ones who live
with disabilities," said Ahimsa.
"Like how?" Shiv wondered,
struggling to put it together.
"A true friend should know
your weaknesses but show you
your strengths, feel your fears but
fortify your faith, see your anxieties
but free your spirit, and recognize
your disabilities but emphasize
your possibilities," said Ahimsa.
"A lot of times, animals do that
better than humans can."
"Oh," said Shiv. "Yeah,
it makes more sense now."
He was tempted, and intrigued,
by the idea of trying to draw Peggy,
who was currently sucking the collar
of Ahimsa's cat Buddha T-shirt.
"Just some of the many benefits
we offer at the Temple," said Ahimsa.
"Ideally, support flows both ways."
"So, you got a donation page
with suggested levels on it, or
do I gotta guess?" Shiv asked.
"We sure do," Ahimsa said.
He boosted Peggy half over
his shoulder so that he could
reach his smartphone. "Here's
our website, just use the menu
to navigate where you want."
Shiv read the web address,
then brought it up on his phone.
It was a pretty interesting site.
Pictures showed present and
past animals at the temple,
including a litter of kittens
and a cat with only one eye.
There was a dog with three legs,
and another in a tiny wheelchair.
Shiv realized that Simon would
love the hell out of this place.
Humming happily to himself, he
chose the $1000 per year level.
Moments later, Ahimsa's phone
jingled an alert that made him
switch to a different screen.
"Dude," he said, impressed.
"Thank you so much! Would
you like to do the tours today?"
"Office tour," Shiv said. "I don't
want to go out in the rain again."
"Oh good, Peggy and I don't either,"
said Ahimsa. "Come on, the office
is back in an odd little corner."
Hanson Hall had been divided
and opened up and redivided
so many times that it had a lot
of curious nooks and crannies.
Shiv wondered how much else
he had not discovered yet.
"So we've got the office here,
which has a business area,
the studio where you can pick
a desk, and the classroom,"
Ahimsa said, leading the way.
"I've got a studio the size of
a small apartment," Shiv said.
"And I can bring critters there
to visit if you want, but it's nice
to have some art stuff in the studio
for group sessions," Ahimsa said,
trailing his free hand along the wall.
"Fair point," Shiv said, since there
was no such thing as too much
space to put his art stuff in.
"You get a discount on
all the classes that cost,
and once a month you can
waive any material fees up to
a certain amount," said Ahimsa.
"Materials cost extra?" Shiv said.
"Some of the workshops I've done
do that, but others don't cost anything."
"It depends on the media," said Ahimsa.
"Charcoal is cheap, acrylic paint affordable,
but oil paint and pastels are expensive."
"Oil paint, huh?" said Shiv as they
reached the office. "Mind if I
take a picture of your door?"
"Okay?" said Ahimsa. "I mean,
go ahead, but whatever for?"
"I want to send it to a friend,"
Shiv said. He snapped a photo
of the Temple sign, then wrote
an email message to Rob Ross.
I gave my old apartment to
some friends and I rented
a new art studio. This here's
one of my new neighbors. You
got any oil paints to donate?
Rob was a softie, and he
loved painting wildlife. He'd
probably pitch in whatever was
going spare at the art company,
because Shiv had seen him
chip in art supplies before.
Ahimsa waited until Shiv
finished typing, then opened
the door for him. "Come on in."
They bumped shoulders a bit
going through the doorway, but
Ahimsa didn't seem to mind.
Inside the office, rain rattled
briskly against the windows.
The little business area had
a wooden table with a rolling chair.
Shelves held houseplants and
artwork, with more plants in
big pots sitting on the floor.
A dottie wedged between
the entrance and the desk.
The art studio was crammed
with more shelves, desks,
easels, and rolling art carts.
Ahimsa walked through,
holding Peggy with one hand
and trailing the other hand over
everything that he passed.
Shiv watched, intrigued, since
he rarely saw anyone else do that.
Ahimsa put the cat down and
said, "Want to pick a table?"
Peggy bounded over to Shiv,
standing on her rubber paws
so she could reach up to knead
her claws against his jeans.
"I look like a cat tree?"
Shiv drawled as he
looked down at her.
She blinked up at him,
moon-pale eyes shining.
"Peggy, be nice to Shiv,"
Ahimsa scolded the cat.
"We want him to like us!"
She thumped back to the floor,
then stropped herself on Shiv's legs.
If he couldn't feel the dancing metal,
Shiv wouldn't have known that she
was anything out of the ordinary.
It was going to be so much fun
to draw her with her titanium feet
and their little rubber ends like
the kind under chair legs.
Shiv looked around and
picked out a plain white desk
that had several rails and
cups above it for art supplies.
"This'll do," he said. "I can
bring over some stuff later."
He had enough that he could
probably put together a sketch kit,
some watercolors and pastels,
sketchbooks and papers, without
needing to buy anything new.
"Sure, we're here until six today,"
said Ahimsa. "Would you like
to see the classroom? I brought
Peggy early so she has time
to calm down. She's posing
at two and four o'clock."
Shiv immediately took out
his phone and keyed in
the session times. "Yeah."
The classroom was just
a big open space that had
the same hardwood floor as
the rest of the Temple, part
of its wall in brick and part
in smooth paint hung with
various arts and crafts.
Folding chairs and tables
stacked along the walls,
waiting for the students.
"Nice place," Shiv said,
looking at the lights and
the rain-wet windows.
"Yeah, we can fit two or
three dozen people in here,
but I try not to crowd too much,"
said Ahimsa. "It's easier if
the artists have more space."
That way you had less risk of
tripping over anyone's easel,
which Shiv had actually seen
in another art class once.
Ahimsa's phone chimed.
He looked at it, then squeaked.
"Is this you?" he said, turning it
around. "Did you do this?"
There was a donation of
a dozen oil painting kits.
"Yeah, I know Rob Ross,
and he loves animals, so
I figured that he'd want
in on this," Shiv admitted.
"Thank you so much, dude,"
said Ahimsa. "We can really
use this. Wet-on-wet works
great for animal portraits."
"I've done some like that,
so thought it was worth
a try," Shiv agreed.
Peggy bounded around
the room, her paws going
pat-pat-tap-tap on the floor.
Watching her antics made Shiv
throw back his head and laugh.
"Do you want to grab a pencil
and paper so you can make
a few sketches while Peggy
works out the jitters a bit?"
Ahimsa offered. "No cost,
doesn't count as a session."
Shiv grinned. "Don't mind
if I do," he said, and went
to rummage for supplies.
Oh yeah, Ahimsa was
trying to butter him like
a biscuit, but that was fine.
They might all be a bit broken,
but it was about recognizing
your disabilities while still
emphasizing your possibilities.
Shiv was totally smooth with that.
* * *
Notes:
This poem is long, so its character, setting, and content notes will appear separately.