Synkroniciti is pleased to welcome poet and writer Shannon Frost Greenstein of Pennsylvania with “Baby Jessica is Still in the Well,” a historical poem about Jessica McClure, an eighteen-month-old who fell down a well in her aunt’s backyard in October of 1987, captivating a nation. For three days she held out in a hole in the ground until rescuers were able to save her.
“The nation was united in this rescue,/ buoyed by bipartisan interest in the fate of one little girl/ as if the stock market wasn’t plunging/ and the Berlin Wall wasn’t still in place./ Enticed by the prospect of authentic Arthurian gallantry/ of the most American flavor/ captured in real-time…”
One might think that rescue was the end of the story, but the paramedic who saved her, Robert O’Donnell, was shattered. The experience haunted him and he couldn’t hold a job.
“An infinite array of quantum possibilities blooming in his dreams/ featuring all of the occasions he did not arrive in time,/ Robert O’Donnell would die by suicide/ before Jessica reached the age of 10.”
Society loves to create heroes (and villains) but archetypes can be damaging when they are superimposed over the lives of real people, cheapening their struggles and failing to recognize their pain. Shannon speaks with such empathy and clarity, asking us to re-evaluate our understanding of the collective visions we experience through media. First responders need our attention after the crisis has passed. Much of the time their post-traumatic stress runs counter to the heroism accredited to them, but it is a perfectly natural reaction. It is our duty to see beyond the hero and care for the individual.
Read “Baby Jessica is Still in the Well” in Synkroniciti’s “Dreams” issue, available for purchase here: https://synkroniciti.com/the-magazine/purchase-individual-issues/. Shannon gives us an insightful and unique understanding of this memorable story.
Shannon Frost Greenstein (She/They) resides near Philadelphia with her family and cats. She is the author of Through the Lens of Time (2026), a forthcoming fiction collection with Thirty West Publishing, and These Are a Few of My Least Favorite Things (2022), a book of poetry from Really Serious Lit. Shannon is a former Ph.D. candidate in Continental Philosophy and a multi-time Pushcart Prize nominee.
Her passions include Friedrich Nietzsche, anti-racism, the Seven Summits, the Hamilton Soundtrack, motherhood, and acquiring more cats.
Find her at shannonfrostgreenstein.com or on Twitter and Bluesky at @shannonfrostgre. Insta: @zarathustra_speaks