David Noyes Jackson was the life partner of poet James Merrill

James Merrill

James Ingram Merrill was an American poet whose awards include the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for Divine Comedies...

 (1926–1995). A writer and artist, Jackson is remembered today primarily for his literary collaboration with Merrill.

The two men met in May 1953 in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

, after a performance of Merrill's play, "The Bait." They shared homes in Stonington

Stonington, Connecticut

The Town of Stonington is located in New London County, Connecticut, in the state's southeastern corner. It includes the borough of Stonington, the villages of Pawcatuck, Lords Point, Wequetequock, the eastern halves of the villages of Mystic and Old Mystic...

, Athens, and Key West

Key West, Florida

Key West is a city in Monroe County, Florida, United States. The city encompasses the island of Key West, the part of Stock Island north of U.S. 1 , Sigsbee Park , Fleming Key , and Sunset Key...

. "It was, I often thought, the happiest marriage I knew," wrote Alison Lurie

Alison Lurie

Alison Lurie is an American novelist and academic. She won the Pulitzer Prize for her 1984 novel Foreign Affairs. Although better known as a novelist, she has also written numerous non-fiction books and articles, particularly on children's literature and the semiotics of dress.-Personal...

, who got to know both men in the 1950s and thought enough of the relationship to write a memoir about it more than forty years later, Familiar Spirits

Familiar Spirits

Familiar Spirits is a memoir published in 2000 by American writer Alison Lurie. In it, she recounts a friendship with poet James Merrill and his life partner David Jackson which began in the 1950s....

(2001).

Over the course of decades conducting séance

Séance

A séance is an attempt to communicate with spirits. The word "séance" comes from the French word for "seat," "session" or "sitting," from the Old French "seoir," "to sit." In French, the word's meaning is quite general: one may, for example, speak of "une séance de cinéma"...

s with a Ouija board

Ouija Board

Ouija Board is a Thoroughbred mare racehorse owned by Edward Stanley, 19th Earl of Derby and trained by Ed Dunlop. In a career spanning four seasons, she won 10 of her 22 races, 7 of them Group 1s, including the Epsom Oaks in 2004 and the Hong Kong Vase in 2005...

, Merrill and Jackson took down supernatural

Supernatural

The supernatural or is that which is not subject to the laws of nature, or more figuratively, that which is said to exist above and beyond nature...

 transcriptions and messages from otherworldly entities

Genie

Jinn or genies are supernatural creatures in Arab folklore and Islamic teachings that occupy a parallel world to that of mankind. Together, jinn, humans and angels make up the three sentient creations of Allah. Religious sources say barely anything about them; however, the Qur'an mentions that...

. Merrill's and Jackson's ouija transcriptions were first published in verse form in The Book of Ephraim (printed for the first time in Divine Comedies

Divine Comedies

Divine Comedies is the seventh book of poetry by James Merrill . Published in 1976 , the volume includes "Lost in Translation" and all of The Book of Ephraim...

, 1976, which was awarded the Pulitzer Prize

Pulitzer Prize for Poetry

The Pulitzer Prize in Poetry has been presented since 1922 for a distinguished volume of original verse by an American author. However, special citations for poetry were presented in 1918 and 1919.-Winners:...

 in 1977).

Many critics consider David Jackson to be a kind of co-writer, certainly the catalyst if not the medium

Mediumship

Mediumship is described as a form of communication with spirits. It is a practice in religious beliefs such as Spiritualism, Spiritism, Espiritismo, Candomblé, Voodoo and Umbanda.- Concept :...

, for much of James Merrill's most significant poetic output. The Book of Ephraim (1976), Mirabell: Books of Number

Mirabell: Books of Number

Mirabell: Books of Number by James Merrill is a volume of poetry published in 1978 .Mirabell is the second of three volumes comprising the epic 560-page poem called The Changing Light at Sandover, which was published in its entirety in 1982....

(1978), and Scripts for the Pageant (1980) were all written with Jackson's spiritual

Spiritual possession

Spirit possession is a paranormal or supernatural event in which it is said that spirits, gods, demons, animas, extraterrestrials, or other disincarnate or extraterrestrial entities take control of a human body, resulting in noticeable changes in health and behaviour...

 assistance. Together, they constitute the epic trilogy The Changing Light at Sandover

The Changing Light at Sandover

The Changing Light at Sandover is a 560-page epic poem by James Merrill . Sometimes described as a postmodern apocalyptic epic, the poem was published in three separate installments between 1976 and 1980, and in its entirety in 1982...

, a 560-page apocalyptic

Apocalypse

An Apocalypse is a disclosure of something hidden from the majority of mankind in an era dominated by falsehood and misconception, i.e. the veil to be lifted. The Apocalypse of John is the Book of Revelation, the last book of the New Testament...

poem published in its entirety in 1982.