The Suicide of Zombie Boy

Just 15 hrs. ago, Rick Genest — aka “Zombie Boy” — posted a poem on Instagram before he took his own life. He called it THE WELL. It is a prayer to the Voodoo spirit Damballa. It is a very fantastical poem, yet Genest’s articulation of it is coherent and intelligible. The poem reminds me much of Gérard de Nerval’s poetry. Genest implores of Damballa, “lo heed our wish of madness deep from os …” The word os is Latin for “the bones” here. Like Nerval, Genest dislikes sanity, and wants to escape its clutches. His final line is, “release by moonlight glow.” He will release himself from earthly confinement. The world will call his death the result of “depression,” and it will call for more attention on “mental health,” but this is clearly suicide for a spiritual, and perhaps sacrificial, reason.

See my books The Insanity of Gérard de Nerval and Suicide: A Critical Inquiry for more on this topic:

https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B07FPX812S

Or here:

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/brandon+r+burdette?_requestid=13677070