Water Street (1953-61)

The eight years covered in “Water Street” are centered on Merrill’s close relationship with David Jackson and the domestic life they created together, on Water Street in Stonington, Connecticut. By this period Merrill was a published poet and a budding playwright and novelist. Perhaps most importantly to Merrill’s career, this was also the period when he and Jackson started what would become decades of Ouija board séances. Highlights of this section include:

• One of Merrill’s first postcards to Jackson, shortly after they had met at a party.
• Merrill’s letter to his mother explaining what he is learning from Ephraim about the spirit world.
• Journal pages with Ouija board séance transcript wherein Merrill converses with the recently deceased Wallace Stevens.
• Fragment from an unfinished novel draft about Stonington.
• Notes from the writing of his autobiographical novel The Seraglio, with alternatives to the castration scene.
• Pages from Merrill’s and Jackson’s photo album of early life in Stonington.
• Portraits of Merrill and Jackson by artist Larry Rivers. 
• Short Stories: a Merrill chapbook published by Claude Fredericks.