We’re assuming that a man wrote the poem. Could have been written by a woman in the 3rd person, esp. if it’s about suicide. Have you checked for women with the initials rh?

It’s been suggested before. Pretty much every time anyone starts to look at that poem in fact. At some point there’s the inevitable thought/interpretation that it could have been written by a female. Followed by "should we check for a female with the initials RH". Not illogical but nothing new either.

Personally I’m satisfied Z wrote it and ergo it was written by a man. I can totally understand the doubt though given the nature of the poem and I have wondered myself about the meaning of its subject matter. A thought has just occurred to me though. The subject of the poem does quite arguably appear to allude to suicide (as you point out). This was something that Zodiac actually did and we have evidence of it – The Exorcist letter. I’m not sure if that correlation has been drawn before. I would suspect it has but there it is again as a reminder. One more tick in the ‘Z was here’ box. For me anyway.

We’re assuming that a man wrote the poem. Could have been written by a woman in the 3rd person, esp. if it’s about suicide. Have you checked for women with the initials rh?

It’s been suggested before. Pretty much every time anyone starts to look at that poem in fact. At some point there’s the inevitable thought/interpretation that it could have been written by a female. Followed by "should we check for a female with the initials RH". Not illogical but nothing new either.

Personally I’m satisfied Z wrote it and ergo it was written by a man. I can totally understand the doubt though given the nature of the poem and I have wondered myself about the meaning of its subject matter. A thought has just occurred to me though. The subject of the poem does quite arguably appear to allude to suicide (as you point out). This was something that Zodiac actually did and we have evidence of it – The Exorcist letter. I’m not sure if that correlation has been drawn before. I would suspect it has but there it is again as a reminder. One more tick in the ‘Z was here’ box. For me anyway.

Except now we have been told of the possibility the Exorcist letter is a fake….another thread.

And of course rh could have been an intended victom. And not nessisarily from that school..

Except now we have been told of the possibility the Exorcist letter is a fake….another thread.

We have? Where’s that mentioned, wouldn’t mind a read. I know it’s authenticity was suspected to begin with when it first turned up. I assume this new doubt is a recent reiteration?

And of course rh could have been an intended victom. And not nessisarily from that school..

An interesting idea. It would certainly move it into the category of taunt/threat. An attributable Z trait. I think the hypothesis that it was about a girl has been offered before, That it was about a self-harmer but the idea that she might be an intended victim and that the ‘rh’ refers to her I’m not sure I’ve read suggested.

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Marcelo

"rh" could refer to the Rh blood group system. A stretch, but given the sanguinary content of the verse not to be wholly ruled out, maybe covered in bio that week.

I am using the reasoning the rh initials are for a potential intended victom. He used lower case, and no intelligent person would sign off with there own initials. It was not a sign off, the victims initials are a part of the poem. Yup …Signing off with your own initials would be a pretty stupid thing to do. Put your initials to vandalizing school property. No way.. I really feel if you sign off you go caps even if the rest of that crud is in lower, so keep that girl who spurned you and mocked you in lower case. Especially if you feel superior as Z indeed needed to be.

We have? Where’s that mentioned, wouldn’t mind a read. I know it’s authenticity was suspected to begin with when it first turned up. I assume this new doubt is a recent reiteration?

I second that request.

Not really the thread for it, but anyway:

What I’ve heard (fairly) recently is that LE has known for years that one of the "confirmed" letters is a fake. And that this is based on DNA. Meaning, presumably, that they have matched DNA taken from this letter to a person who could not have been Z.

But, yes, links to any recent Exorcist discussion would be appreciated.

Maybe he/she (the writer) had recently read, and liked, e e cummings. Just a thought.

-glurk

Meaning, presumably, that they have matched DNA taken from this letter to a person who could not have been Z.

I hope it wasn’t Toschi.

Maybe he/she (the writer) had recently read, and liked, e e cummings. Just a thought.

-glurk

Nice precedence.

Maybe he/she (the writer) had recently read, and liked, e e cummings. Just a thought.

-glurk

Indeed.

Or (s)he could have read Eliot or…well, any number of modernist poets who use lower case letters to various degrees for effect. It’s practically cliche – and would have been so back then too.

I hope it wasn’t Toschi.

He is the one who springs to mind, unfortunately.

I stress that this is just something I picked up while roaming the wilderness of the web. Just a rumor. It has been brought up several times, though, by serious people – IIRC Mike Rodelli got this story pretty much confirmed by an LE source he interviewed at one point. And others have mentioned the same thing. So I think there might be something in it. The devil’s in the details, though – and the latter I know nothing about.

Could be the location of where the poem was originally composed, "rh" = Ramona High.

Yes, that’s been suggested and run through the mill a few times. The rh, standing for blood factor as in rh negative or rh positive, has also been suggested. Unless we know who wrote the poem we can’t know what it stands for or even if it truly is related to Cheri Jo’s murder.