Friday Flash Fiction
  • Home
    • About Friday Flash Fiction
  • 100-Word Stories
  • Longer Stories
  • Poetry
  • Authors
    • A-C
    • D-F
    • G-I
    • J-L
    • M-O
    • P-R
    • S-V
    • W-Z
  • Submissions
    • 100-Word Submissions
    • 500-Word Submissions
    • Poetry Submissions
    • Technical Help
    • Writing Good Flash Fiction
    • Terms & Conditions
    • GDPR Compliance

Convict's Lament, by Mary Wallace

21/2/2021

9 Comments

 
FOOD, TRAVEL
Just me and Ma, alone and cold
We have to steal to eat
There's not much room for honesty
Not living on the street

A loaf of bread was all I took
Cop nabbed me on his beat
And now I'm here without me Ma
A sailing with the fleet

Van Diemen's Land, Australia
A place of flies and heat
And worst of all, I've left me Ma
For sharks and rogues to cheat.

I see'd her standing on the dock
She'd braved the wind and sleet
And cried as I was lead on board
With chains around me feet

9 Comments
Sandra James
21/2/2021 01:07:18 pm

I love it, Mary! There's a little of the artful dodger in there.
PS - one of your ancestors or mine? lol

Reply
Andrew Carter
21/2/2021 01:17:22 pm

Wonderful, Mary. Gives a feel for the time and brought to mind Defoe's colourful character - Moll Flanders.

Reply
Marjan sierhuis
21/2/2021 04:22:09 pm

A wonderful little poem, Mary.

Reply
Krystyna
21/2/2021 07:10:20 pm

A harrowing tale, beautifully articulated in flowing rhyme, Mary.

Reply
Sue Clayton
22/2/2021 01:22:40 am

A peep into history, Mary. Luckily so much has changed since those penal colony days; except for the flies and heat.

Reply
Mary Wallace
23/2/2021 06:22:13 am

Thanks everyone for your supportive comments.

Reply
Candace Arthuria Williams
23/2/2021 06:19:56 pm

It's the story of Jean Valjean in a nutshell. Victor Hugo would be proud---or jealous. In the US, we had chain gangs. Inhumane, heart-wrenching, and well done. Kudos, Mary.

Reply
Jim link
25/2/2021 05:00:11 am

I really enjoyed this, Mary. You could feel the desperation, as well as those chains wrapped around the feet.

Nicely done
Jim

Reply
Padmini Krishnan
26/2/2021 09:07:24 am

It was very nicely done, Mary.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Poetry

    This is the section where fiction prose becomes something else. We still expect the poems to be short, though – sonnets, perhaps, or around that length at the very most.

    Poems submitted should be
    no longer than 160 words
    and contain
    no more than 16 lines.

    100 words remains the approximate target.

    Please submit using the Submissions Page.


    Picture

    Archives

    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014

Picture
Website by Platform 36