Z is for Zombie.....

Zombies are hot right now--- and no, I don't mean their body temperature, which is probably sub-arctic--- no, I mean in popularity. With "The Walking Dead" and "Warm Bodies" and the remake of "Pride and Prejudice" with the addition of Zombies... as well as numerous other classic stories that have had their plots rewritten to include a smattering of undead characters. Zombies are definitely the supernatural flavor-of-the-month (all ridiculous puns intended). So, just like my 'V' entry on Vampires, I don't intend on rehashing the 'already-more-than-overdone-everybody-knows-what-they-are definitions of Zombies.

As it is, Zombies skirt the definition of supernatural/mythological creature--- the reanimated corpse qualifies, but the hypnotized/drugged "living" individuals aren't so supernatural/mythological themselves, it's the processes that lead to their possession that falls into the realm of the supernatural, specifically in the realms of  witchcraft and Vodou/Voodoo.

The bokor (sorcerer) in West African Vodou can reanimate a corpse. These Zombies will remain under the bokor's power since they have no conscious will of their own-- they are essentially empty vessels that are controlled for whatever purpose the bokor has in mind. The legends of West African Vodou also say that if you feed a Zombie salt, it will return to its grave.

In Haiti, on the other hand, Zombies aren't risen corpses. They are living humans who, either through drug inducement, psychological inducement, or a combination of the two, become trapped in a sort of deathlike suspended animation. Those who are psychologically induced "know" they are dead and begin to reconstruct their identity as a Zombie. The mind can do terribly wonderful and wonderfully horrific things to one's own body.

In Darkness Walking

Eyes wide, but unseeing,
mind lost to the dark,
limbs weak, but unyielding,
hollow emptiness in the heart.

Words spoken, but unfeeling,
a curse meant to steal the breath,
spells cast, but undoing,
the long, cold comfort of death.

Sleep halted, but unending,
frame made to proceed,
tasks given, but unwilling,
possessed soul forced to concede.

Life granted, but unrelenting,
existence given and taken away,
time altered, but unwavering,
spirit trapped, eternity's toll to pay.

                                                                                                            ---e.a.s. demers