Requirements, In the Case of a Haunting

  1. Cognitive dissonance
  2. The overwhelming urge to discover what is forgotten
  3. The inability to forget what is discovered
  4. Tools of defensive destruction (see: guns with silver bullets, knives of varying sizes,
    axes, hacksaws, chainsaws, claws made of keys between clenched knuckles, matches,
    gasoline)
  5. A vengeance against the place
    a. Or the people inhabiting it
    b. Or the people who put people in the ground it was built on
  6. The ability to run
  7. The ability to scream
  8. The ability to hold in all sound
  9. A lack of all previous connection to people, places, objects, and emotions
  10. A deep sympathy for everything that seeks to destroy you
  11. The intimate knowledge that people are animals
  12. Acknowledgement that places can be animals, too (see: the door of the house is a mouth,
    the windows are shuttered eyes, the peeling wallpaper is perfumed skin, you are its soul
    and it is you)
  13. Acceptance that if you go in, it will not be you who comes out
Poetry, by Jessy Taylor.

Jessy Taylor (she/her) is currently pursuing her Bachelor of Arts in English, German, and Creative Writing at the University of Richmond. She is the sole editor and founder of the Omnibus Literary Magazine and the recipient of the 2025 Margaret Haley Carpenter Award for poetry. She will be published in the next edition of The Messenger.

Blog at WordPress.com.

Up ↑