automatic writing is when a person channels a spirit through their writing while in a trance —that’s just my definition…

shake shake shake sweat beads run down from temples down face down neck in between breasts sweat…the whole room is damp (muggy)…drums and smoke, burnt sage and sandalwood—broken pieces of bread, glasses half filled with rum, bowls filled with egg yolks and chicken blood

shake shake…exercise that demon…pray…it doesn’t prey on the quick in your soul…you try to fight it…listen to the wailing women in the background, to the snake shakers, to the convulsing throng, to the wind whipping the tent flap…the hurricane lamps are burning down…wicks lay limp on slick oil surfaces

the girl… the girl in the sun bronzed skin…covered in sweat and taro leaves…her eyes have rolled in the back of her head… some one puts a pen in her hand, another runs in with a stack of blank paper…the spirits have taken over…she is hoisted up and submerged into a tub of cold water, only her hand left out to write:

wind a long red string around your finger before you go to sleep
have a glass of water at your bedside table to catch bad dreams
everything is just in your head
you make it what you want
we are what we pretend to be…so take heed…proceed with caution…
you don’t have to wake up in the trunk of a car just so you can write about it

dream baby girl…dream

—-gasping, the drums and cries dying down, the sun bronzed girl woke to a new day.