BlueIris
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Sun Feb-03-08 04:04 PM
Original message |
The BlueIris Semi-Nightly Break, 2/3/08 |
|
"The House Slave"
The first horn lifts its arm over the dew-lit grass and in the slave quarters there is a rustling— children are bundled into aprons, cornbread
and water gourds grabbed, a salt pork breakfast taken. I watch them driven into the vague before-dawn while their mistress sleeps like an ivory toothpick
and Massa dreams of asses, rum and slave-funk. I cannot fall asleep again. At the second horn, the whip curls across the backs of laggards—
sometimes my sister's voice, unmistaken, among them. "Oh! pray," she cries, "Oh! pray!" Those days I lie on my cot, shivering in the early heat,
and as the fields unfold to whiteness, and they spill like bees among the fat flowers, I weep. It is not yet daylight.
—Rita Dove
|
ThomCat
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Sun Feb-03-08 04:10 PM
Response to Original message |
1. Thinking about American slavery |
|
always makes me feel vaguely ill. It's horrifying to realize how brutal, how vicious, and how selfish people can be and yet still somehow think of themselves as the best people on earth.
We still have people living in servitude in this country, and it mostly gets overlooked.
And when poverty gets severe, a lot of people live in de-facto servitude just to survive. :(
When will we get past this flaw in our collective character?
|
BlueIris
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Sun Feb-03-08 04:19 PM
Response to Reply #1 |
2. Slavery as discussed in modern literature is a fascination of mine. |
|
If you have any interest in the topic, please read Valerie Martin's "Property" ASAP. It's one of the best American novels in recent years (won an Orange Prize in 2003).
|
ThomCat
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Sun Feb-03-08 04:29 PM
Response to Reply #2 |
3. The next book on my reading list |
|
is "Understanding Global Slavery" by Kevin Bales.
I will have to remember Property when I make my next big book purchase.
|
BlueIris
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Sun Feb-03-08 06:08 PM
Response to Original message |
BlueIris
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Sun Feb-03-08 07:24 PM
Response to Original message |
CaliforniaPeggy
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Sun Feb-03-08 07:32 PM
Response to Original message |
|
This is so sad...
Beautifully put, though...
Thank you...
|
BlueIris
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Sun Feb-03-08 07:59 PM
Response to Reply #6 |
7. Sure thing. I'm kinda sad it's not getting that many views, but what did I expect |
Tuesday Afternoon
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Sun Feb-03-08 08:26 PM
Response to Original message |
|
just not in the mood tonight. here is a kick for it. I know you spend your time and effort and I do appreciate it. :kick:
|
BlueIris
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Sun Feb-03-08 08:35 PM
Response to Reply #8 |
BlueIris
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Sun Feb-03-08 11:45 PM
Response to Original message |
DU
AdBot (1000+ posts) |
Thu Apr 25th 2024, 05:59 PM
Response to Original message |