Last week's paranormalities class took the format of a seance. We sat in a circle around a table lit up with candles as three chosen "sensitive ones" each placed a hand on the ouija board and another student transcribed the letters the spirit led us to.
After reading selections of James Merrill's ouija poems he was the best candidate to summon. We went around the circle repeating his name one by one. You know that game where you say a word enough times and it loses all meaning? It was kinda like that.
The ouija board began moving and we were giving an outpouring of letters spelling words but most seeming to spell gibberish. Perhaps we had a playful spirit on our hands. We asked if he was James Merrill and the spirit replied: "Maybe." We asked his name and he said "Zed." Then he said O'Hara was no good, but he was a fan of 'Meril.'
There were other coincidences. A mention of "Key West" led us to discover Merrill had spent some time in Florida. Repeated mention of "Taos" brought up a publishing company who'd put out an anthology in which Merrill appeared. Our sensitive ones were perceptive indeed.
How did spirit Zed come to enter the spirit world? He stated his death had come as a result of the government--a judge in particular.
In time the spirit grew restless. He confessed he had worked all his life "reading poems" and after a mispronunciation of Mina Loy, the speaker stated "Mina Loy Mad," and soon after bid us goodbye.
Our assignment next week is to draw our own tarot card and write a poem to go alongside it. I'm choosing "The Tower" an image that's stuck with me since dreaming of it years ago... I've begun following my dreams since a few weeks back I was supposed to perform a spell and dreamed I performed it instead.
Step by step, I followed the directions: placed three pennies in the seam of my clasped hands, walked three intersections, walked to the center of the third crossing, and asked a question of Legba. Only in my dream, I told my professor I had only got as far as the question; I had to dream to find out what the answer was.
After reading selections of James Merrill's ouija poems he was the best candidate to summon. We went around the circle repeating his name one by one. You know that game where you say a word enough times and it loses all meaning? It was kinda like that.
The ouija board began moving and we were giving an outpouring of letters spelling words but most seeming to spell gibberish. Perhaps we had a playful spirit on our hands. We asked if he was James Merrill and the spirit replied: "Maybe." We asked his name and he said "Zed." Then he said O'Hara was no good, but he was a fan of 'Meril.'
There were other coincidences. A mention of "Key West" led us to discover Merrill had spent some time in Florida. Repeated mention of "Taos" brought up a publishing company who'd put out an anthology in which Merrill appeared. Our sensitive ones were perceptive indeed.
How did spirit Zed come to enter the spirit world? He stated his death had come as a result of the government--a judge in particular.
In time the spirit grew restless. He confessed he had worked all his life "reading poems" and after a mispronunciation of Mina Loy, the speaker stated "Mina Loy Mad," and soon after bid us goodbye.
Our assignment next week is to draw our own tarot card and write a poem to go alongside it. I'm choosing "The Tower" an image that's stuck with me since dreaming of it years ago... I've begun following my dreams since a few weeks back I was supposed to perform a spell and dreamed I performed it instead.
Step by step, I followed the directions: placed three pennies in the seam of my clasped hands, walked three intersections, walked to the center of the third crossing, and asked a question of Legba. Only in my dream, I told my professor I had only got as far as the question; I had to dream to find out what the answer was.
No comments:
Post a Comment