shiori_makiba | Poem: A Net of Promises

Well I said one of the resulting pieces would definitely be posted to the blog. It is from my 'Ohana series.

Poem: A Net of Promises

by shiori_makiba / Ashley Weyer

Word Count: 304

Based on the prompt by ysabetwordsmith for Thank Muse It's Friday January 2016 session. Constructive feedback or even just "I liked this" or "It didn't grab me" is always appreciated.

“A Net of Promises”

Everyone who becomes a parent makes promises.

To themselves, to each other, to their children.

Lakiesha, Sammy, Pedro, Nat, and Martin were no exception.

They all promised to donate the necessary genetic material.

They promised that regardless of

whose gametes mixed successfully with whose

that the children would be all of theirs.

Lakiesha and Nat promised to carry the children.

Pedro and Martin didn't have the necessary parts for that bit.

Sammy did but only in the technical sense.

After all, just having a female body did not make someone female.

They had promised to take care of each other

when they first became a family.

They re-affirmed that promise now

and extended it to include the little ones on the way.

They promised to let the children decide what gender they were.

They picked out a couple of gender neutral names.

Finding clothes and other things for the babies

that fit that plan proved to be difficult.

But there were pattern books for baby clothes

and Martin was a genius with a sewing machine.

Sammy knitted others and Lakiesha made quilts.

Pedro wasn't very good at fiber crafts

but his carpentry skills more than made up for that.

Nat did what she always did

and quietly made sure everyone ate, had clean clothes, and slept.

They promised to be the best parents they could be.

They promised to be supportive.

They promised to listen.

They promised to protect.

They promised themselves, as they had done so often as children,

that they would never do some of the things their parents had done.

But nobody was perfect and everyone makes mistakes.

So they made a little net of promises

woven out of love and hope, of worry and fear.

And prayed that it be enough to catch them

and the children when someone inevitably stumbled.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Absolutely beautiful. Thank you.

I love this poem so much. It's nice to see a polyfamily working out how to do things. And yes, some men have wombs but they usually don't want to get pregnant.

Oh, how warm a supportive net!

• some of things their parents had done
→ some of the things

Corrected.

Good support is important in anything but especially for something this important.

I like this a lot. Especially the bit about "promising never to do some of the things their parents had done". I have a lot of those.

Really, any healthy committed relationship involves that kind of net of mutual promises. Some of them just have fewer strands (because of fewer individuals) than others.

>>I like this a lot.>>

Thanks. :)

>>Especially the bit about "promising never to do some of the things their parents had done".>>

I think everyone has made that promise to themselves. Doesn't make it less serious. Because sometimes, sadly, a person has a VERY good reason for making those promises.

>>Really, any healthy committed relationship involves that kind of net of mutual promises. Some of them just have fewer strands (because of fewer individuals) than others.>>

Well said.

Sometimes falling down is useful... my youngest started talking that way. He missed a step, sat down hard, looked up, and said, very solemnly, "Boom."

The mistakes, yes, you definitely catch those, even if you can't always catch the kid.

I hope they have chosen their community as well as their partners; not all towns are accepting of gender neutrality.

Well-said.

Mistakes and falling down might be inevitable but good support can make many of those mistakes less of a disaster than they otherwise might be.

Well, I'm not certain where exactly they are, I know they picked their current community very carefully. After some errors in the past.

This is very sweet.

Thanks :)

I would like to meet these people. And be their neighbors. Failing a universe-hopping bus pass, I hope I meet people like them. Or inspired by them, as I am.

Thank you!

>>I would like to meet these people. And be their neighbors.>>

I'm glad people are liking this little polyfamily and the Garden community.

>>Failing a universe-hopping bus pass, I hope I meet people like them. Or inspired by them, as I am.>>

You are the first to express this about one of my settings so big grin on my face. I think a lot of us would like to hop over to a more pleasant universe (many of us here on DW carefully watch for portals to T-Earth from ysabetwordsmith's Polychrome Heroics setting).

With enough lead time (a couple of months would do), I'd be happy to continue my tradition of offering hand-knitted blankets for the new arrivals. I typically suggest one of three choices: sections in each primary color (red, yellow, blue), a "My First Crayolas" blanket with sections of red/yellow/blue/green, or a blanket done in a variegated yarn with all the colors of the rainbow. Again depending on preferences, I can work either in acrylic yarn (easily machine washable, and stain resistant, but *not* fire resistant), or superwash wool yarn (machine wash cold, air dry, fire resistant, stays warm when wet). Different styles are also possible, depending on whether there are furry four-foots in residence with the humans, or not.

Would that be something that the prospective family might be interested in?

Would that be something that the prospective family might be interested in?

Definitely . . .

Such a shame that they exist in another reality and we can't get the blankets to them.

Still adding this my notes for the 'Ohana verse. Because that is a lovely tradition.

The blankets sound neat and so fuzzy-warm.

My muses like the "my first crayolas" and the variegated rainbow . . .

Poem: A Net of Promises

parenthood, in a nutshell

Thank you!

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Yes please

Re: Yes please

a warm welcome to the world

Re: a warm welcome to the world