On December 28, 1984, my mother wrote: I love you very much, Marta. It's probably hard to believe sometimes--I know I'm difficult as a person, and nobody's idea of "Mother", but I never learned how to be anything but myself. I wish for you the same. What is everyone's idea of "Mother"?
Category: mom
leave home
A few days after I left for my freshman year of college, my mother wrote me this story. When I left home for the first time, I was 20, and it was 1964. The first Beatles record had come out that summer, and I took the Silver Meteor with my sister Susan up to D.C. …
It’s your choice.
In June of 1985 my mom wrote me this. I have thought long and hard about a lot of things. Since you have never really asked me for anything, nor reproached me for anything, your requests have a great deal of weight with me. I've always loved you as your mother, but let me say, …
you know the unicorn is there
In April of 1989, seven months before she passed away, my mom wrote this. You'll probably call this weekend, but I wanted to ask you how your reading went. Talk about being on the spot! To just say "I enjoyed your poetry" sounds rather insipid. I wish I were not your mother so I could …
you can judge
On my 19th birthday, my mom wrote me this. I really appreciate your sending me the copies of your poems; I know that took some courage. I enjoyed them, as poems. As a mother, of course, I have to wonder about contentm but I work at not doing that. Parents are never the ones to …
no apologies necessary
When I was 18 years old, my mother wrote me this. Something you said really struck me, and I wanted to reply to that. It was when you said you knew you'd been a lot of trouble. Well, yes, you've been a lot of trouble...a lot of pain and sorrow and just plain ain-in-the-ass. Point …
reading the past
Since I've decided to write my mother's novel, ahem, I'm rereading her letters. Letters she saved from other people and letters she sent to me. The novel she started is, after all, veiled autobiography. My mother once wrote me, A la M [the ex-boyfriend], I just decided to go ahead and write a novel, as …
the list
Going through the notes my mother wrote for her novel, I found a list of chapter titles. Reality Testing Wulfen The FBI, CIA, Mafia, and my .38 His mother, my clothes His daughter The Last Christmas Ballad Harper, The FBI, and the CIA The Peeping Tom Ghosts Lybia :the girl in the window :fire from …
the death man
NaNoWriMo is coming. I haven't been writing and have been overwhelmed at work, and so thinking that I can write a novel in November is foolishness. But I love NaNoWriMo. And I've got an idea. Before my mother died, she started a novel. She called it The Death Man and it was autobiographical. It is …
Marta Bacon 