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 answer is 42.
I've no ideas for blogging. I've ideas for stories, for art, for conversation, and no time to pursue them. My laptop won't accept any discs and so I can't get my scanner to work because I can't use the start up disc. One camera is broken and the other camera needs batteries. My writing time …
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 …
The Past Is a Discovered Country But Poorly Understood
The picture here was taken only after about two or three days in Bulgaria as a Peace Corps volunteer. It was July 4th and I hardly knew any of my fellow volunteers. Over the next 2 years perhaps we got to know each too well in some ways and not nearly enough in others. Seventeen …
Continue reading The Past Is a Discovered Country But Poorly Understood
Asking for Trouble
When I say to her, "That's a pretty bracelet," she says, "Thanks! I bought it from a Christian jeweler!" When I say, "I like the painting over the fireplace," she says, "Thanks! I got it from a Christian painter!" And I confess, I want to say, "Oh, well, thank heaven it wasn't a Muslim or …
Marta Bacon 