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Channel Esther: Lucinda and the Clairvoyant
Esther Cohen
July 10, 2014
Lucinda, This Morning
Cleaning our house,
She stopped the vacuum cleaner
Turned it off
she doesn’t usually turn off
the vacuum cleaner
her white noise
my guess is Lucinda
sleeps with her vacuum cleaner nearby
just in case
this morning she turned
It off. Hava
she said. I am usually
unnamed. I knew it was
important. Hava
she repeated with a Lucinda
insistence. I hated
my fourth husband
and now he’s dead she said.
Last week I visited a clairvoyant
she saw him floating
up there she heard him say
Forgive Me Lucinda.
He was an abusive jerk.
Never I shouted. He can
keep floating wherever he is
for the rest of his death.
Eternity, she said.
And you know what else
Lucinda added, moving toward
her vacuum cleaner to let me know
her story was almost finished.
The clairvoyant agreed with me.
What a shmuck,
She said.
Esther Cohen is a contributing writer to Jewish Currents and works with us as arts and public events consultant. Her books include Book Doctor, a novel, and Unseen America: Photos and Stories by Workers, among others.
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