Jonestown Lullaby: Poems and Pictures

By Teri Buford O’Shea

At age nineteen, author Teri OShea joined Peoples Temple in California led by Jim Jones. A member for seven years, she escaped Peoples Temple three weeks before the massacre in Jonestown, Guyana. The raw and powerful poems in Jonestown Lullaby explore her experience in Jonestown and the aftermath of her survival. A personal confidant to Jim Jones for seven years, OShea writes about the harrowing nightmare of Jonestown with an intensity and passion seldom captured in poetic form. Teri was the last person to escape Peoples Temple before the massacre in Jonestown; now, she turns to writing to help find her way back to a more peaceful life. Jonestown Lullaby records her voyage, with vivid, stark images of the bewildering world that was Jonestown and the pathological madness of Jim Jones. Teri includes photographs of some of the Peoples Temple members who lived and lost their lives there; revealing an aspect of Jonestown rarely seen. This is her tribute to those who died so tragically.
I Write
I write from the poor side of silence
Of an unholy priesthood that
Captured my soul for a time
These poems
Neither confession nor biography
Follow the voyage of a lonely spirit
Into a realm where there are no answers

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Sep 14, 2011
• ISBN: 9781462037384

Teri Buford O’Shea

Teri O’Shea currently lives in Massachusetts.

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Copyright © 2011 Teri Buford O’Shea

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Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

ISBN:  978-1-4620-3737-7 (sc)

ISBN:  978-1-4620-3738-4 (e)

Printed in the United States of America

iUniverse rev. date:  8/22/2011

Cover design by Paradise Copies, Northampton, MA

Photos courtesy of California Historical Society

This book is dedicated to my daughter, Vita,

who endured my struggles over the years;

to Martha, my lifelong friend, who showed me that

one person can make a difference;

and to Dan, who taught me to live with courage.

In memory of Judy, whom I loved as a sister.

Acknowledgements

With deep love and respect for the people of Jonestown, whom I shall hold ever in my heart.

With appreciation to all those who helped me see this book through to fruition. Heather Johnson provided invaluable editorial services. Saundra Dubow Azmitia, Rebecca Moore, Alice Bowen, Fielding McGehee III (Mac), Don Beck, Anne Adams, Joyce Anderson, Susan Roth, and members of the Florence Poets’ Society provided generous feedback and encouragement.

With gratitude to Patrice who challenged me to live beyond the boundaries of survival.  

This book was made possible, in part, by a grant from the Western Massachusetts Training Consortium Career Initiatives Program.

…we with our spirit, our love, our sinew

we are among the survivors

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