1 poem
Examination of Martha Carrier, Queen of Hell
[May 31, 1692]
Magistrates’ questions / Afflicted’s chorus:
You, Alleged. Once a spoilt child, three tymes a rotten lady.
You multiply pain in a rain of pins, therefore, you, the fruit to
be exploded by the Wheel of God. Your histories wedge you
to y'r alleged. Born to towne’s founders, you bore a bastard &
married below y'r station, bringing a sour taste to everyone’s
mouths. In the Grip of the Devil, [torn].
ALLE GE CIPLE HIS FUL FUL!
D DIS AMO NG HATE HAND
Just as you fell in Price Tag so did y'r soul shed the gold each
infant is born with. X-raying y'r adult soul we have found it
thorough clenched into coal. We must punish those banished
from God’s pasture. For Lamb of God is nott Lamb of the
Alleged. Allegedly, they call you Colt that walks on front
leggss solely, hind hooves in the air perpetual with devious
kicks.
SHE IS COLT WALKS FRONT SOLELY!
THE WHO WITH LEGGSS
Returning to Andover, destitute, dragging four children
across the mud, y'r alleged evil swept the towne like a
smallpox, and upon days of y'r arrival thirteen persons were
dead.
WE SEE GHOSTS THEIR
TH UNDER THE FEET THE
IR C DON’T T GR
T OUCH OU
EEN EIL ING. ND.
Worse, seven of these were y'r relatives.
WOE! THREE SE IN G UT
WOE! OF THE WIND IN SHEETS “NIECE.”
CALL O
Escalate the elegy, escalate the alleged. Now look at you, a
rampant hag.
SHE IS RAMP ANT REP ENT OR
THE HAG! HANG!
Each finger points in y'r direction. Look at these afflicted.
They fall when you look at them, as if by y'r Instruments.
Propagate pain, propagate allegedly.
WHEN WE FALL TO AS IF AT HELD
SHE HAVE THE ALL US
FALLS NO GROUN TIMES UPWARD
TO THE CHOICE D WITH ELSE BY
GROUN BUT TO HER SHE STRINGS
D SO,
Allegedly, y'r wits visit them at night and torment them in
their beds in the shape of a Cloud of Bats blindly landing on
their Hair.
HERE IS WING WHICH I FOUND BED
OF A CHAM
THE BAT, IN MY BER.
What say you to that? Actions speak truth but words lye.
Allegedly, y'r body in spectral form Clapped outside a house
and presently a Cloud of Bats clustered through the hole the
Clap slapped off the window.
WE SAW OUR BY BATS SYC
HER RIDING
FL IN
INGING TO
EVADE BLANK THE THE AMORE
ETS
Your alleged blood is a stain upon these lands. Thus, we
cannot lett it cycle within y'r body more, no, nor through the
bodies of y'r children which are but Faucets of y'r Evil, for
the Sap of Witches runs Bitter down the Tree. And Lamb of
God is nott Lamb of the Alleged.
SH E IS TH E RAM PAN T HAG!
Therefore, we Squeeze Confession out of y'r sons Richard
(18) and Andrew (15) by experiment: tying their Heads to
their Heels so blood rushes out their Noses in a Vivid
Stream, which falls upon their Eyes, so they see their evil and
repent through the Vision of their Plasma. Your daughter
Sarah (7), the Little Cooperator, confessed she’s been a witch
since she was six when you allegedly presented her a book, of
an alleged red, which she touched.
ESCA LATE ALL ESCALT THE
THE EGED, E ELEGY!
Also, a falcon feather, and an inkwell wherein (she perceived)
Swam Blood. We will continue to Milk Confession out of y'r
children until Drops the last Drop. For the Wedge of y'r
alleged keeps hell’s door Ajar and germy devils gush
therefrom to our Locale.
Mandy Gutmann-Gonzalez, a poet and novelist from Vilches, Chile, is the author of the novel, La Pava, published by the Chilean press Ediciones Inubicalistas. Winner of the 2018 Boulevard Emerging Poets Prize, their poetry has appeared, or is forthcoming, in West Branch, DIAGRAM, Quarterly West, diode, and other literary journals. They teach creative writing at Clark University. You can read more of their work on their website: mandygutmanngonzalez.com or IG account: mandy_gutmann_gonzalez_writer.