Browse Items (206 total)

A Ouija séance transcript regarding Wallace Stevens in the afterlife. This serves as one example of Merrill and Jackson frequently communicating with recently-deceased writers and friends, and also of the topics of literary vocation and sexual…

A poem draft with examples of wordplay, an important exercise for James Merrill throughout his writing life. This entry also contains notes on Ephraim and Cold War nuclear annihilation worries.

Early notes on The (Diblos) Notebook--a novel-within-a-novel where life and art turn into each other--inspired by Kimon Friar's idea for "a poet's coming-of-age story and a prelude to a great work."

Draft of a letter to Tony Harwood about Merrill's beliefs on soul and spirituality. These would feed into "The Broken Home," "From the Cupola," and "Days of 1964."

Early holograph notes and drafts toward the poem that would become “18 W 11th St.” The poem regards his childhood NYC home, which was accidentally blown up by radicals living there and making homemade bombs in the basement.

Notes on David McIntosh visit to Stonington coming to an end. This entry includes the first version of first two lines of "The Kimono."

A Ouija séance transcript of the recently-deceased Tony Harwood describing the experience of his death.

James Merrill's notes on a possible title for the Ouija trilogy, eventually titled "The Changing Light at Sandover."

Journal 16 captures the visit to the Mayo Clinic during which Merrill was tested for HIV and received the diagnosis of HIV positive. The entry includes haikus, some of which would appear in "Prose of Departure," a 14-part haibun poem.

A draft of a letter to Merrill's mother, Hellen Ingram Plummer, to prepare her for the publication of his memoir,A Different Person, which contained elements of his life he knew would be unsettling to her.