Esther Cox
By onemorething
- 2394 reads
This is my second ghostly poem for October. It's based on the Amherst Case of poltergeist activity that was reported to have centred on Esther Fox. Esther was 18 and had been the victim of an attempted sexual assault. These events occurred between 1878 and 1879 in Amherst, Nova Scotia, Canada.
He says, 'Esther Cox,
you are mine to kill',
he writes it on the wall.
Hysterical or paranormal,
subject to an unknown will -
she is needled and scratched,
and her body, swollen with pain,
she asks, 'what still belongs to me?'
as something or someone
slides her bed sheets down,
unseen.
Bring in the clergymen
with their holy water,
let them put tests to Esther
who hears a loud ghost,
who knocks once for yes
and twice for no, let them
examine how suffering
manifests.
Image is from here: https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Poltergeist-Therese_Selles.jpg#mw-jump-to-license
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Comments
yes, our noisy ghosts are
yes, our noisy ghosts are often within, and found in the sin of dissociation.
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it's the almost that gets you
it's the almost that gets you. the unexplained.
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"what still belongs to me?"
"what still belongs to me?" Having a small w makes me think of how insignificant her voice is, small, inside her, with the whole whirling condemnation and disbelief and uncaringness of the world spread out around, for as far as she could possibly go
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This is our Facebook and Twitter Pick of the Day
I always love it when our writers do something a little different. If we give ourselves lines to colour inside, we lose our creative edge. This disturbing account of true events is most deservedly our Facebook and Twitter Pick of the Day. Please do ensure that you share it on all socia media platforms if you like it too.
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I'd never heard of her before
I'd never heard of her before - thank you onemore - poor girl. Congratulations on another set of golden cherries
I listened to this in the car today - you might enjoy the series (it's a history of ghosts):
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This is excellent. Without
This is excellent. Without any prior knowledge of Esther Cox, from your first eleven lines I envisaged a modern day homeless person living in despair. 'She is needled and scratched' in particular made me think of desperate people sleeping in shop doorways. I wonder how many of them might feel that your words could describe the way they feel about their lives and I wonder what awful experiences might have taken place to initiate a chain of events that causes their suffering to manifest the way it does.
Congratulations on your golden cherries. They are much deserved.
Turlough
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