Poem: "In the Pipeline"
This poem is spillover from the May 7, 2024 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by prompts from rix_scaedu. It also fills the "Genius" square in my 5-1-25 card for the Superhero Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by zianuray. It belongs to the Shiv thread of the Polychrome Heroics series.
"In the Pipeline"
[Sunday, September 11, 2016]
Shiv felt frazzled after everything
that had been happening recently,
so he wanted something to keep
his hands busy at the Finn party.
Boss Blaster had been making
parks in Lincoln, and the Finns
were doing the same in Mercedes.
Shiv thought they might like a way
of modeling playground equipment,
so he'd made a miniature version
of the pipe kits that you could
get for building jungle gyms.
It wasn't that hard to construct
a good one, as long as you were
building on sound foundations.
Plus Shiv needed practice
with detail work, and so
he had created bolt-ends
and nut-ends that would
really screw together, just
like the full-size pipes did.
It was about choosing to be
better rather than half-assing it.
So Shiv sat on the couch as
the Finn party milled around him,
building mini-gyms on the coffee table.
"That looks like a fantastic model kit,"
someone said. "Where did you buy it?"
Shiv looked up through his fringe to see
Lloyd McDonough, one of the architects
from the Northwest Coast who's consulting
with Boss Finn on ... something-or-other.
"I uh, I didn't buy it, I made it," Shiv said.
Lloyd's eyebrows went up. "Impressive,"
he said. "What scale did you use?"
"Um ..." Shiv looked at his fingers,
trying to count in his head. Oh, right.
"It's 1:12, so a six-foot-tall structure
appears as a six-inch model. I figure
that'll make it easy to play around
with jungle gym designs, since
I got friends building those."
"It's nice of you to invent
a tool for your friends
to use," Lloyd said.
Shiv shrugged. "Eh, I
guess," he said. "I'm not
much of a people person."
"Conversation enriches
the understanding, but
solitude is the school of
genius," Lloyd replied.
"Wouldn't know about that,"
Shiv said, fidgeting in place.
Then Basel Grayson plopped
down on the couch beside him.
"Hey, a little bird told me that
you had a new invention, so I
came over to see it," said Basel.
"Oh, he's an inventor?" Lloyd said,
looking even more interested. "I'm
always into architectural inventions."
"I'm not an inventor, I'm a ..."
Well, better not say 'supervillain' in
such mixed company. "... an artist."
"Inventions can be art," said Lloyd.
"Lamps, stairs, anything decorative."
Shiv had seen Tolli's examples of
functional art, and his own was
nowhere near that impressive.
"It's nothin' special," he said.
"I'm just messin' around, is all."
"In my professional opinion, you
do have something worthwhile
there," Lloyd persisted.
Shiv scrunched himself
smaller, tucking his head
toward his shoulders.
Attracting attention
rarely went well for him.
"Let me see if I can help
guide this discussion,"
Basel said, coming to
Shiv's rescue. "This
started over the model?"
"Yeah," Shiv said. "He
thought that I bought it."
"It does look commercial,"
Lloyd said. "Those are clearly
male and female screws on
on the ends of the pipes."
"I needed the practice,"
Shiv muttered. He knew
the real name for the things,
he just didn't like saying it.
"Practice is good," Basel said.
"What inspired this model?"
"Some uh, people I know
have been doing parks and
I thought a jungle gym model
could help with designing shapes,"
Shiv explained. "So I made some."
"That sounds promising," said Basel.
"Did it occur to you that if your friends
considered such a model useful, then
other folks might feel the same way?"
"Not really," said Shiv. He didn't
care much about folks he didn't know.
"That's understandable, since you
haven't studied business planning,"
Basel said. "Think about it now --"
"Just when things are going okay,
they fall in the toilet," Shiv grumbled.
"I hate the business side of things."
"I know you're not used to people
respecting your work, Shiv, but it
does deserve respect," said Basel.
"From what you've told me, things
have improved for you. They're
not worse, they're just different."
Shiv flicked his gaze up, and
okay, the party was still fine
and not falling apart on account
of anything that he had done.
"I guess so," Shiv said.
"I'm just not used to that."
"It takes time," Basel said.
"Lloyd, what were you thinking
about Shiv's prototype here?"
"That I would very much like
to use it at work, but I think
it could also be helpful in
college classes on design,"
said Lloyd. "In fact, the model
should be worth college credit
as an independent project."
"Who ratted?" Shiv whined.
"Nobody's supposed to know
but family, and you ain't family."
"Nobody told me anything,"
Lloyd assured him. "You just
look college age, and that is
definitely college-level work,
so I wondered if you had
made it as part of a class."
Shiv scrunched his shoulders
again. "I'm not an architect,"
he said. "I'm only in the two,
Nebraska en Plein Air and
Worldbuilding, and them's just
'cause my brother talked me into it."
"All right," Lloyd said. "I won't push.
I think it's worth at least one credit,
if that's useful to you -- in my program,
it would be one for the work that you
have already done and then another if
you work with your lawyer to develop
a commercial product. You don't have
to follow up on that if you don't want to. "
"Consider the market potential, Shiv,"
said Basel. "One in each hardware,
plumbing, or home improvement store
that sells jungle pipes. One or more
in each architecture department at
colleges. That adds up quite a bit."
"Especially when some of the pieces
'walk away' from the display," Shiv said.
"Don't forget companies that make
and sell pipe kits," Lloyd added.
"They'll most likely want models."
"Ah, good point," Basel agreed.
"See Shiv, there's a lot of potential.
You might even explore other scales
for different purposes -- children
would probably want something
a bit bigger and easier to handle."
"I'd buy a class set right now, just
on the strength of that prototype,"
Lloyd said. "I could use it."
Shiv sighed. "It sounds
like a lotta extra work."
"Remember that you only
need to do the modeling, not
the marketing," said Basel.
Shiv brightened. "Oh yeah.
That's not so bad, then."
"Prototypes are good,"
said Lloyd. "Architects
use them a great deal."
"Yeah, I seen some of 'em
in the gallery on campus,"
Shiv said. "Outta those,
I like the staircases best.
Woodcarving is cool."
"Architectural models
date back centuries at least,
and archaeologists argue over
which artifacts are toys and
which are actually models,"
said Lloyd. "It's interesting."
"I just like to look at 'em,"
Shiv said. "Not for work,
though, just for fun."
"That's quite all right,"
Basel said. "Perhaps
it helps you grasp why
other people might be
curious about your model?"
Shiv looked at the jungle gym
and imagined putting a few of
Simon and Tolli's miniatures
from a wargaming army
climbing all over the thing.
"Yeah, maybe," he admitted.
"It just feels weird, is all."
"I understand," said Basel.
"Now, may I see about putting
this in the pipeline? I could also
ask Halley and Edison about
working up a virtual version to go
along with your physical model."
Shiv laughed. "Ah, go ahead."
"So, do you do commissions?"
Lloyd asked him. "I am quite
serious about buying a class set,
and I have reasonably deep pockets."
"Uh ... sometimes," Shiv hedged,
desperately trying not to think about
the pricing discussion that would entail.
"Perhaps we could explore this topic
further on another day, when we're not
all distracted by a party?" Basil suggested.
"Yes!" Shiv pounced on the escape hatch.
"It's probably a good idea," Lloyd said.
"I would really rather not get a 'Don't
pester the guests' talk from every one
of the Finns glaring at me right now."
"Huh?" Shiv said, turning around
to see what the crowd was doing.
Sure enough, both of his dads and
several other Finns were lined up
like a row of guard dogs at a fence,
just waiting for a signal to attack.
Even Aidan was standing there,
clearly in his sheepdog mode,
between Drew and Boss Finn.
Shiv chuckled. "Yeah, they're
a protective bunch, aren't they?"
he said. "I'll be fine. We can
just table this for another day."
"Agreed," said Lloyd. "I look
forward to the discussion,
and I hope to get my hands
on such a prototype some day."
"Here, have this one," Shiv said,
pushing the pieces toward him.
"I got another at home -- never
take your only working model out
of the workshop! -- I just wanted
something to keep my hands busy
today. I can get a building toy
off of the work-play shelves."
"Thank you," Lloyd said.
"I greatly appreciate this."
"Go find a replacement,"
Basel said, waving Shiv off.
"I'll handle the paperwork for
today, then get back in touch with
you tomorrow about future options."
"Kay-thanks-bye," Shiv blurted,
and scurried for the shelves.
Only one Finn followed him.
"Are you holding out okay?"
Tolli asked. "We could move
to a private room, or head home,
if you need a break from the fuss."
Shiv thought about that as he
rummaged through the toys
and the educational tools.
"I think I'll be okay, as long as
nobody bothers me for a bit,"
he said as he nibbled on his lip.
"How about this?" Tolli suggested,
holding up a boxed Erector Set.
"We could go downstairs where
there's more space and then
build something interesting."
"Yeah," Shiv said, leaning
against him. "I'd like that."
* * *
Notes:
This poem is long, so its notes appear elsewhere.
"In the Pipeline"
[Sunday, September 11, 2016]
Shiv felt frazzled after everything
that had been happening recently,
so he wanted something to keep
his hands busy at the Finn party.
Boss Blaster had been making
parks in Lincoln, and the Finns
were doing the same in Mercedes.
Shiv thought they might like a way
of modeling playground equipment,
so he'd made a miniature version
of the pipe kits that you could
get for building jungle gyms.
It wasn't that hard to construct
a good one, as long as you were
building on sound foundations.
Plus Shiv needed practice
with detail work, and so
he had created bolt-ends
and nut-ends that would
really screw together, just
like the full-size pipes did.
It was about choosing to be
better rather than half-assing it.
So Shiv sat on the couch as
the Finn party milled around him,
building mini-gyms on the coffee table.
"That looks like a fantastic model kit,"
someone said. "Where did you buy it?"
Shiv looked up through his fringe to see
Lloyd McDonough, one of the architects
from the Northwest Coast who's consulting
with Boss Finn on ... something-or-other.
"I uh, I didn't buy it, I made it," Shiv said.
Lloyd's eyebrows went up. "Impressive,"
he said. "What scale did you use?"
"Um ..." Shiv looked at his fingers,
trying to count in his head. Oh, right.
"It's 1:12, so a six-foot-tall structure
appears as a six-inch model. I figure
that'll make it easy to play around
with jungle gym designs, since
I got friends building those."
"It's nice of you to invent
a tool for your friends
to use," Lloyd said.
Shiv shrugged. "Eh, I
guess," he said. "I'm not
much of a people person."
"Conversation enriches
the understanding, but
solitude is the school of
genius," Lloyd replied.
"Wouldn't know about that,"
Shiv said, fidgeting in place.
Then Basel Grayson plopped
down on the couch beside him.
"Hey, a little bird told me that
you had a new invention, so I
came over to see it," said Basel.
"Oh, he's an inventor?" Lloyd said,
looking even more interested. "I'm
always into architectural inventions."
"I'm not an inventor, I'm a ..."
Well, better not say 'supervillain' in
such mixed company. "... an artist."
"Inventions can be art," said Lloyd.
"Lamps, stairs, anything decorative."
Shiv had seen Tolli's examples of
functional art, and his own was
nowhere near that impressive.
"It's nothin' special," he said.
"I'm just messin' around, is all."
"In my professional opinion, you
do have something worthwhile
there," Lloyd persisted.
Shiv scrunched himself
smaller, tucking his head
toward his shoulders.
Attracting attention
rarely went well for him.
"Let me see if I can help
guide this discussion,"
Basel said, coming to
Shiv's rescue. "This
started over the model?"
"Yeah," Shiv said. "He
thought that I bought it."
"It does look commercial,"
Lloyd said. "Those are clearly
male and female screws on
on the ends of the pipes."
"I needed the practice,"
Shiv muttered. He knew
the real name for the things,
he just didn't like saying it.
"Practice is good," Basel said.
"What inspired this model?"
"Some uh, people I know
have been doing parks and
I thought a jungle gym model
could help with designing shapes,"
Shiv explained. "So I made some."
"That sounds promising," said Basel.
"Did it occur to you that if your friends
considered such a model useful, then
other folks might feel the same way?"
"Not really," said Shiv. He didn't
care much about folks he didn't know.
"That's understandable, since you
haven't studied business planning,"
Basel said. "Think about it now --"
"Just when things are going okay,
they fall in the toilet," Shiv grumbled.
"I hate the business side of things."
"I know you're not used to people
respecting your work, Shiv, but it
does deserve respect," said Basel.
"From what you've told me, things
have improved for you. They're
not worse, they're just different."
Shiv flicked his gaze up, and
okay, the party was still fine
and not falling apart on account
of anything that he had done.
"I guess so," Shiv said.
"I'm just not used to that."
"It takes time," Basel said.
"Lloyd, what were you thinking
about Shiv's prototype here?"
"That I would very much like
to use it at work, but I think
it could also be helpful in
college classes on design,"
said Lloyd. "In fact, the model
should be worth college credit
as an independent project."
"Who ratted?" Shiv whined.
"Nobody's supposed to know
but family, and you ain't family."
"Nobody told me anything,"
Lloyd assured him. "You just
look college age, and that is
definitely college-level work,
so I wondered if you had
made it as part of a class."
Shiv scrunched his shoulders
again. "I'm not an architect,"
he said. "I'm only in the two,
Nebraska en Plein Air and
Worldbuilding, and them's just
'cause my brother talked me into it."
"All right," Lloyd said. "I won't push.
I think it's worth at least one credit,
if that's useful to you -- in my program,
it would be one for the work that you
have already done and then another if
you work with your lawyer to develop
a commercial product. You don't have
to follow up on that if you don't want to. "
"Consider the market potential, Shiv,"
said Basel. "One in each hardware,
plumbing, or home improvement store
that sells jungle pipes. One or more
in each architecture department at
colleges. That adds up quite a bit."
"Especially when some of the pieces
'walk away' from the display," Shiv said.
"Don't forget companies that make
and sell pipe kits," Lloyd added.
"They'll most likely want models."
"Ah, good point," Basel agreed.
"See Shiv, there's a lot of potential.
You might even explore other scales
for different purposes -- children
would probably want something
a bit bigger and easier to handle."
"I'd buy a class set right now, just
on the strength of that prototype,"
Lloyd said. "I could use it."
Shiv sighed. "It sounds
like a lotta extra work."
"Remember that you only
need to do the modeling, not
the marketing," said Basel.
Shiv brightened. "Oh yeah.
That's not so bad, then."
"Prototypes are good,"
said Lloyd. "Architects
use them a great deal."
"Yeah, I seen some of 'em
in the gallery on campus,"
Shiv said. "Outta those,
I like the staircases best.
Woodcarving is cool."
"Architectural models
date back centuries at least,
and archaeologists argue over
which artifacts are toys and
which are actually models,"
said Lloyd. "It's interesting."
"I just like to look at 'em,"
Shiv said. "Not for work,
though, just for fun."
"That's quite all right,"
Basel said. "Perhaps
it helps you grasp why
other people might be
curious about your model?"
Shiv looked at the jungle gym
and imagined putting a few of
Simon and Tolli's miniatures
from a wargaming army
climbing all over the thing.
"Yeah, maybe," he admitted.
"It just feels weird, is all."
"I understand," said Basel.
"Now, may I see about putting
this in the pipeline? I could also
ask Halley and Edison about
working up a virtual version to go
along with your physical model."
Shiv laughed. "Ah, go ahead."
"So, do you do commissions?"
Lloyd asked him. "I am quite
serious about buying a class set,
and I have reasonably deep pockets."
"Uh ... sometimes," Shiv hedged,
desperately trying not to think about
the pricing discussion that would entail.
"Perhaps we could explore this topic
further on another day, when we're not
all distracted by a party?" Basil suggested.
"Yes!" Shiv pounced on the escape hatch.
"It's probably a good idea," Lloyd said.
"I would really rather not get a 'Don't
pester the guests' talk from every one
of the Finns glaring at me right now."
"Huh?" Shiv said, turning around
to see what the crowd was doing.
Sure enough, both of his dads and
several other Finns were lined up
like a row of guard dogs at a fence,
just waiting for a signal to attack.
Even Aidan was standing there,
clearly in his sheepdog mode,
between Drew and Boss Finn.
Shiv chuckled. "Yeah, they're
a protective bunch, aren't they?"
he said. "I'll be fine. We can
just table this for another day."
"Agreed," said Lloyd. "I look
forward to the discussion,
and I hope to get my hands
on such a prototype some day."
"Here, have this one," Shiv said,
pushing the pieces toward him.
"I got another at home -- never
take your only working model out
of the workshop! -- I just wanted
something to keep my hands busy
today. I can get a building toy
off of the work-play shelves."
"Thank you," Lloyd said.
"I greatly appreciate this."
"Go find a replacement,"
Basel said, waving Shiv off.
"I'll handle the paperwork for
today, then get back in touch with
you tomorrow about future options."
"Kay-thanks-bye," Shiv blurted,
and scurried for the shelves.
Only one Finn followed him.
"Are you holding out okay?"
Tolli asked. "We could move
to a private room, or head home,
if you need a break from the fuss."
Shiv thought about that as he
rummaged through the toys
and the educational tools.
"I think I'll be okay, as long as
nobody bothers me for a bit,"
he said as he nibbled on his lip.
"How about this?" Tolli suggested,
holding up a boxed Erector Set.
"We could go downstairs where
there's more space and then
build something interesting."
"Yeah," Shiv said, leaning
against him. "I'd like that."
* * *
Notes:
This poem is long, so its notes appear elsewhere.