Michie Tavern, Charlottesville

Amorella here. This photograph is a reminder of Thanksgiving as far as orndorff is concerned. He is thankful he is still alive and mentions this silently almost every day even though he doesn’t realize it. The prayer would be silent if I were not around listening. He is thankful his friends, those that are still alive, are also alive. He has given thanks one way or another ever since the Cuban Missile Crisis. Before that he was not so thankful. He existed but he was not so fully alive as after World War III did not happen.

In the upcoming sixth book he will attribute this to that time period as when the Dead interceded so that their children could continue. That’s the reason in advance. The next three books are completed from my perspective. Orndorff can add a bit here and there if he is so inclined. However, I, Amorella, can also change my mind just as he can.

A bit of background on book one, Braided Dreams here. Richard was gathering information for a “Meet the Author” talk at the Mason Public Library earlier tonight when he came across something he had written several years ago after reading the first three chapters of When Jesus Went to Harvard by Harvey Cox.

“The [Merlyn] stories must be separate and yet flow together perhaps as a bodyanheartansoul. A transcendental flow of style not unlike the transcendental flow and style within a William Blake painting. How would Blake paint each of the main characters in the story? What does the bodyanheartansoul look like? What are the metaphysical gear works of the heartansoul as compared with the soulanheart?

What does a heart with a ring of friendship surrounding it look like? How would Blake paint it? Perhaps Blake Williams [a human character in "Pouch Text"]  could describe these things in writing in the same way William Blake would paint them. How do you describe such things in words? How and why does Blake become mystical?

Does he remember his earlier mind-body experiments?  How do these correlate with those of Diplomat later? A foreshadowing?  How do I show that the Quality of the Light is more important than its strength in book one and reinforce it in book two and add another quality to it in book three?”

What is your comment, orndorff?

When I was read Cox’s book I saw similarities between Amorella’s writing and those of early Jewish stories that Cox was writing about in the first three chapters of W.J.W.T.H. and this was an inspiration to me. I thought maybe unconsciously I was onto something and I might make good use of it.

I had forgotten about all this. I forgot during the presentation tonight. It was just like class. My former students all smiled, the rest probably wondered if I had a mind at all.

The inspiration was really a reinforcement that I (Amorella) might actually be able to write something of worthy quality, that was the sense of it to me at the time. I did continue with the experiment as I still am today. I have nothing to lose and nothing to gain except in the fact that I am ‘being’ a writer and that is what I am as long as Amorella is a part of myself.