The poems take various shapes and forms, but are generally written as free verse. A few poems are stylistically unique; for example, there is one written as an abecedarian ("An Alphabet of Lessons for Girls") and another as an anaphora ("The Mather Boys," in which all lines but the final two begin with "The one").
Cooley includes notes and a brief timeline of the Salem witch trials in the back of the book to further contextualize the poems. Some of the poems are written as if observing past events, with direct quotations from primary sources and the Bible accentuating them. Others are "Archivals," taking place from Cooley's perspective as a modern researcher-poet. Still others are situated in the 20th century, drawing on the witch trials as a metaphor.
The juxtaposition of the community of Salem's treatment of women with that of society's continued sexism is powerful. In one poem (below), the narrator attends a reenacted trial of a woman in which the audience participates. The narrator is troubled by the outcome: the audience votes overwhelmingly to execute the woman accused of witchcraft. The closing lines of this poem are stark and evocative.
Buy the book:
https://lsupress.org/books/detail/the-afflicted-girls/
https://www.amazon.com/Afflicted-Girls-Poems-Nicole-Cooley/dp/0807129461/
Author's website:
http://www.nicolecooley.com
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