|
Correspondence from Grady McMurtry to Jack Parsons
[EXTRACT]
[8 May 1943] [in reply to Parsons' letter of 2 April 1943]
"I imagine you are rather surprised [that a] boy who, you have introduced to your favorite hobby, a punk kid whose gruesome poetry had a momentary macabre attraction, a hairless ape whose antics once gave you an interesting spectacle for close study, has suddenly bit the helping hand." [He then admits that, although he was still] "hurt rather terribly" [over Clair (Claire Palmer), his reference to Crowley about abortion, pregnancy and children did not pertain to her at all but were a reference to another female Agape Lodge member who was] "tolerated as a necessary nuisance." [Unfortunately, even though it wasn't a reference to Claire, Jack had opened up a can of worms by mentioning his wife. Grady was quick to unload that his marriage was not what he had hoped or expected and that he felt in some ways very betrayed by] "the mob."
[He informed Jack that if Jack was going to be 'frank', when he was going to be 'earnest.'] "What you say is true, Jack damnably true. But there is one thing you did not mention. When did Claire start sleeping with every man she met?" [Although Claire's lifestyle had become 'irresponsible and shiftless', his wife didn't start sleeping around until she spent some time at Jack's house while Grady was away in the army. So, who was really responsible?]
[Grady angrily continues.] "When did you first meet Claire? What type of girl was she then, a promiscuous harlot or a high bred, rather snobbish, child of eighteen? You met her one night a short time before I was inducted into the army." [Grady also discusses how Jack had introduced him and Claire to 'the Group' and continues by asking] "what was her reaction the first time I dragged her to the Mass [Gnostic Mass]? You know damn well what it was, she was scared stiff. But these new ideas appealed to her as much as they had to me. [Grady goes on to explain that he believes that certain members of the Agape Lodge, Jack included, took full advantage of his wife while he was away. He then adds that] "maybe Claire became pregnant, maybe she did not. I couldn't swear to that because I don't know." [Grady didn't know but he was quick to remind Jack that it was he who] "referred her to an abortionist", [which speaks volumes. Grady admits that Claire didn't seem to mind the sex at all, concluding that his wife decided it was time to fully express herself and to gain a wider range of experience. In short, Claire was taught that becoming a Thelemite implied doing whatever one wanted. That this 'want' should be sex became obvious due to the type of talks which Jack Parsons, Wilfred T. Smith and others had with Grady's wife.]
[Grady further wrote that at least his wife] "waited until she was visiting the Group, and staying at your house . . . before gaining sufficient inspiration for her experiments." [In other words, she didn't embarrass him by being sexually free around his other friends in San Francisco, or so he believed. He concludes] "Maybe she did a bit of free lancing on the side before, I wouldn't know and at this late date certainly am not interested, but the wholesale distribution was not until then" [when she was staying with Jack]. I understand that Wilfred [Wilfred T. Smith], among others, found the going pleasant."
"You call me a fool. Wilfred considered me a child. The Master thinks I may be a poet someday if I keep my nose clean. Good. Fool + Child + Poet?
|