POETRY: Kiziah’s Story, Part II

Read Part I here.

By SHELIA BLAND

To the other,
The mother says only,
“Yes, sir.”

The mother and Kiziah go to the allotted area,
Where the mother goes over the list of duties
and the order in which they must occur—
without passing on to Kiziah,
the mother’s anxiety.

The mother inspects Kiziah’s dress
To see that everything is perfect
Before she leaves this
house of the others
to head home.

The next day,
the mother sets out for work.

–What do you mean “the next day…”?
What happened at the event?
How did Kiziah do?
What is to be the fate
Of the mother and daughter?

I cannot say.
I was not there, you see.
No one was.
We are not guilty.
The mother was not there.
She is not guilty.
She is responsible—
We all are.

You see, the mother assumed
The event ran late
And Kiziah was required
To stay the night.

It’s a valid assumption.
We have no control over the others.
We are merely required to obey them.
Kiziah would have had to do as she was told.

That would be following the rules.

When the mother arrived
She was instructed to serve
The breakfast in the parlor,
Clean up after breakfast,
Then clean up from
Last night’s event.… Read the rest “POETRY: Kiziah’s Story, Part II”