Wonders of the Invisible World

Back in January I posted a piece about my mother, Venom and Velocity. I wrote about her fascination with tornadoes and what seemed to be her uncanny ability to attract animals, including snakes, and in the most unlikely places. That got me thinking about my 8th great grandmother, Susannah North Martin, who was three times accused of witchcraft between 1669-1692. She was finally found guilty and sentenced to hang on July 19, 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts. I can’t help but think whether my mother, Susannah’s 7th great granddaughter, would have also been suspected of witchcraft during that time because of her ability to talk with the animals. At any rate, I’ve been working on this poem, truly a work-in-progress at this point, but thought I’d share it with you here.

Susannah wasn’t the only person delivered to the gallows on that day—Sarah Good, Elizabeth Howe, Rebecca Nurse and Sarah Wildes were also hanged.

Wonders of the Invisible World

“Most impudent, scurrilous, 
and wicked Wonder of the Invisible World”
Susannah’s named
as children gnash and fit 
bewitched for show
before her.
Yet no familiars float
nor hungry ghosts invade
their skin despite their
deceitful shenanigans.

“Explore my flesh for what it’s worth,
no witch’s teat concealed
in freckle or on mole
you’ll find.”

While Mather’s pen
scabs Salem’s plot;
in defense Susannah speaks.
“My thoughts are my own,
this virtuous and holy life,
my only sin— 
not guilty,”
her only plea.

“Guilty!” 
came back loud and clear
and off to jail Susannah went
until the Nineteenth of July,
when Good, Howe, Martin, 
Nurse and Wildes 
to Proctor’s Ledge were led
and noosed
until they hung there dead.

Then tossed below 
where gallows stand
into a gaping
stone crevasse,
no soil to blanket
jutting limbs,
no words of comfort,
no amens,
no closing hymns or prayers
for these so loathed,
yet held no sin,
these most impudent, 
scurrilous, 
and wicked 
Wonders of the Invisible World.

Photo credit: The Witch No. 1, Library of Congress