The Shucker

July 19, 2021Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Reflections, Things Kids Say, Trauma and Development, Writing Tags: Abuse, Child labor, Childhood Adversity, dissociation, dVerse, Exploitation, Hine Lewis Wickes, History, Prosery, Quote, Survival 35 Comments

A girl’s voice protested. A cackle followed.

Leah kept her head down and her eyes on the task before her. There was a quota to complete if she wanted anything in her stomach, and she could make her body dead to wandering fingers. She’d learned how. The hard way. The only way.

When the foreman finally moved on, she gritted her teeth and tried to not compare slime to slime.

Not that she would ever touch the stuff. And not only because it was forbidden.

Beside her, Mandy sniffled. “How can you stand it?”

“Perhaps she doesn’t mind him,” Becca hissed. “Seeing how she never cries.”

Leah clenched her teeth, locked her knees, and steadied her breath. She focused on the fading light glinting on the blade. “No, I do not weep at the world – I am too busy sharpening my oyster knife.”

For the dVerse Prosery writing prompt

Prosery prompt quote: “No, I do not weep at the world – I am too busy sharpening my oyster knife.” (Zora Neale Hurston, from “How Does it Feel to be Colored Me” in World Tomorrow, 1928)

Photo: Hine Lewis Wickes, The Library Of Congress https://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/nclc.00919/

Indispensable

July 10, 2021Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Reflections, Trauma and Development, Writing Tags: Adversity, Creative writing, Endless, Exploitation, Flash Fiction, Human Rights, Micro-fiction, Requisite, Servitude, To do lists, Weekend Writing Prompt 10 Comments

(Photo: Catt Liu on Unsplash)

She checked the items off the list.

One by one by one by one.

She’d learned to not look too far down. Better to not confront endlessness. To not have to face it that today, too, there will not be a moment when the job is done. When she is free.

Only another task.

Another chore.

Mistress claimed she was “indispensable.”

Praise or curse for why she could not get a few days off to see her ailing mother. To rest. To marry.

“We’re your family,” Mistress had said. “We need you. It is a requisite you stay.”

For Sammi’s Weekend Writing Challenge: Requisite in 98 words

The Tour

March 27, 2019Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Current events, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Reflections, Writing Tags: 100WordChallenge, Antique, Business tour, Child labor, Exploitation, Flash Fiction, Friday Fictioneers, History, Micro-fiction, Perpetrator, Textile mill 35 Comments

Photo prompt: Sandra Crook

“We’ve come a long way from small children crawling under looms,” the proprietor boomed, arm sweeping proudly across the antique refurbished mill.

The group of portly men nodded sagely.

One of them patted a balding pate, florid face sweating in tailored wool. He was gratified to see another man masking a yawn.

The two-hour Textile Investors Tour satisfied requirements for business expenses, but the real draw of the area was a manicured golf course, good wine cellars, and a particularly discreet hotel concierge.

Too bad, the balding man thought to himself. A few crawling kids would’ve been right fine.

For Rochelle’s Friday Fictioneers

Un-Pacified

August 3, 2018Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Current events, Muse and Flow, Reflections, Trauma and Development, WordOfDayNY, Writing Tags: Abuse of power, Be a voice, Bullying, Cruelty, Current affairs, Exploitation, MerriamWebster, Propaganda, Racism, Speak up, WordOfDayNY, WordOfTheDay 3 Comments

Instagram/@onyvava

One cannot pacify hatred

By fueling more hate,

Just as violence will not be calmed

Via harming.

Arguments aren’t settled

When truths are shut up,

Nor can peace be made by

The war-glorifying.

There is no equality

While oppression is sought

And brutality cannot

Bring on healing.

So rallies where ‘greatness’

Is clothed in cruel acts

Breed not power nor awe

But disdain,

As leadership’s hubris is paid

By the vulnerable

Again and again.

Merriam-Webster’s word for August 3, 2018:

Pacify

This post continues the blogging challenge in which Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day, serves as inspiration a-la the “Daily Prompt.”

Want to join me? Feel free to link to this post on your blog, and/or post a link to your blogpost in the comment section below so others can enjoy it, too. Poetry, photography, short stories, anecdotes: Go for it!

For more visibility, tag your post with #WordOfDayNY, so your post can be searchable.

“Follow” me if you want to receive future prompts, or just pop in when you’re looking for inspiration. Here’s to the fun of writing and our ever-evolving blogging community!