Chimerical frisson, thinly sliced

To: Rx From: Max Origen Sent: Friday, April 10, 2009 3 p.m. Subject: beyond hope

Rx: I am not through yet. Max Origen

To: Max Origen From: Rx Sent: Thurs, April 9, 2009 11:59 p.m. Subject: Scheherazade

My dear Max,

Hermes Trismegistus is a writer, magician, and guide who brings the dead through, to cross over to the other side. Remember the tripod in your poem "In Praise"? (See Musings, April 1, when your first letter appeared.) Perhaps he is like a tripod of talents. His writings appear in the form of dialogues in which he is enlightening a disciple, like a father speaking with a son. He is himself a dialogue, between the Egyptian Thoth and the Greek Hermes, although the Greeks never really accepted him. They could not see Hermes joined to Thoth.

But, Max, he is a liberator, a storyteller who tells stories to break out of boxes, to get through intervening barriers.

I would like to believe that we are involved in this kind of process. Sometimes I teach, and sometimes you do. Sometimes we hear. Sometimes we just pass through. And sometimes we really pass through, to the beyond in that moment.

I value this. This is a good story.

Hopefully,

Rx

To: Rx From: Max Origen Sent: Thurs, April 9, 2009 5 a.m. Subject: disloyal gnosis

Rx:

I happen and the moon happens.

Maybe you have other stories, but we've gone through this before. From my side you are merely make-believe. You are a series of stories strung together, like pretty beads adorning a pale and lovely neck, but hung on a string rotten from salty air, ready to break. Your coherence is questionable.

Do you ever feel like you are through? Washed up in the sea?

It is finished.

Max Origen

From: Rx To: Max Origen Sent: Thurs, April 9, 2009 2 a.m. Subject: Re: NOT

My dear Max,

It is good to hear from you again.

I thought you were through, i.e., through with me. A sad thought that is. But why should your silence be whelming? I am already covered tightly, hermetically sealed. Even if I were to be turned upside down, how could I be engulfed with disastrous effect? How would I even know I had been flipped? Overwhelm and underwhelm lose all meaning in outer space. This space is spacious, plenty of room for passing through. Perhaps there can only be through traffic.

Did you know that it is Hermes Trismegistus who is credited with the creation of the hermetic seal? It can be important in the execution of magic to keep vessels airtight.

Did you happen to see the full moon?

The loyal hermit, Rx

Original message From: Max Origen To: Rx Sent: Wed, April 8, 2009 11:59 a.m. Subject: NOT

Rx:

I am not through yet. Max Origen

— Rx is the FloridaW eekly muse who hopes t o inspire profound mutiny in all those w ho care to read. Our Rx may be wearing a pirate cloak of in visibility, bu t emanating fr om within this shadow is hope that r eaders will f eel free to respond. Who kno ws: You may even inspire the muse. Mak e contact if you dare.