Oyster Shucking - Factory Girls

In the slums of London, 11 year olds

look at the dark subdued eyes
and grubby faces of three children
not a trace of a smile detected

pretty little girls who work at
the cannery shucking oysters from
shells prised open with sharp knives

outside the factory gates
the year is 1911 the photographer
harvests hardship in monochrome

stark poverty stares back
lives drained in the same way the
photographic image is devoid of colour

smock dresses torn filthy and patched
ill fitting laced boots yet it’s their hands
those calloused little hands

wrapped in bandages knotted ties
around small gashed fingers
that hurt and cry out the most

Reviews

[Fabian G. Franklin]

It was a hard life when child labor was not only allowed but depended upon by many poverty stricken families. The children couldn't go to school because they were needed to work in the fields, the sweatshops and refineries, the canneries and the stables. Thankfully, those days are behind us and even those children are gone. But it wasn't so long ago that kids still worked all day in the fields in summer and went back to school in fall. I was one of them. I remember I couldn't wait for school to start. School meant new shoes, a few new clothes and not having to be out in the fields at dawn. But we raised our own food and mother canned and froze anything not cooked right away. When I was ten or so we finally got running water and shortly after, an indoor toilet. I thought we had suddenly got rich.

[Chris Shaw]

Thank you Fabian for your interesting share. Children certainly had a tough time a century ago. Thankfully it has improved a great deal, though not in all parts of the world sadly. Some way to go yet. Appreciate you stopping by.

Chris

[Bare trees]

Great writing Chris. My mind immediately when to the early 1900's from the first line.
It was a different time back then and it was harsh for children that had to work in coal mines to. So many died later in life from lung disease.

Your poem reflects what today would be considered child abuse. Good descriptions in this bring the sadness to light.

[Ken Simm.]

I can not only see this. I can feel the steel of the knives and hear the cutting.

[Chris Shaw]

Thank you Ken for stopping by and sharing your thoughts. Much appreciated. Have a good weekend. read moreThank you Ken for stopping by and sharing your thoughts. Much appreciated. Have a good weekend.

Chris

[Neville]

It's the kind of photographs you refer to & which clearly provided the inspiration for what is essentially a magnificent portrait of poverty that carry and convey the truth from one generation to another and which are absolutely necessary to demonstrate where we have once been & to prick our moral conscience .. I too am saddened by such images but we should not try to deny them there are far too many trying to change history or to obliterate it & it is crucial that we learn from it .. An historically accurate and splendidly crafted and likewise important little portraiture our Chris .. Neville

[Chris Shaw]

I agree Neville, it is importantly that our history isn’t wiped out. I love these old photographs. Thank you so much for stopping by.

Chris

[Ern M. Yoshimoto]

i went to myanmar a few years ago, and while i had a good time there, i also had witnessed child labour. your nrrative explores the past and the way we have evolved as a society. i hope this is the last generation to see such practices in the global south as well.
so, reading this work was a moving experience that brought up personal memories. very descriptive, and the way the text makes us feel things without demanding it requires a skilled and restrained pen.
thank you for sharing.

[Chris Shaw]

Many thanks Ern. I very much hope child labour is completely eradicated. The eyes on the little girls in the photograph were haunting. Your thoughts and response, very much appreciated.

Chris

[Sapphus]

Children were the true victims of history and that hurts the most. You make the pain palpable.

[Chris Shaw]

Thank you Sapphus, your thoughts on this poem, very much appreciated.

Chris

[red93]

Shades of the Great Charles Dickens with this bleak appraisal of life in London in past days. Exceptional ✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️

[Chris Shaw]

Certainly was a bleak photograph Tony. Couldn’t put those faces out of my mind. Thank you so much. All the best.

Chris

[MoonSong]

Momentous and scandalous were these times. I am sure they still exist in parts of the world that I don't see firsthand. I am sure my mom and her generation saw/lived all of it. Heartbreaking truth in a well-written piece. I am sad. Thank you! 😔 Maria

[Chris Shaw]

I was sad too Maria. They are long gone and who knows whether they ever grew into adults, but they deserved to be remembered. Many thank yous for sharing your thoughts.

Chris

[Lorry]

Love those old photographs that show a previous world without technology, or pretty much anything else, other than smiles and happiness from within extreme poverty.
I have some books of Oscar Mazaroli and later David Peat, showing the same devastating poverty in and around Glasgow during and beyond the world wars.
Full of bleak buildings teetering at the edge of their lifespans, yet throughout, those mucky faces shine in smiles that we forget, people were surrounded in poverty and didn't know they were poor themselves because that's just how life was. Everyone was in the same boat and can you imagine the uproar these days from people going around slums looking for kids to photograph?
They'd be on a register quicker than speed itself...if they were lucky and didn't get lunched by the parents themselves!

[Chris Shaw]

Hello Lorry, yes, some of the photos do show laughing faces in the midst of poverty. It was the same for everyone. They were all in the same boat. This photo was a bit different. The photographer went Charles Dickens and it touched me on a different level. Laughed at your final comment. Go any where near kids these days you’ll get locked up. lol. How times have changed. Many thanks.

Chris

[Davidgeo]

Not too shabby. Well done. "friend".