The Easter Bunny wrote, Easter, 1985 My Dear Ms. Pelrine, Your mother asked me to send you a chocolate unicorn for Easter. I had to point out to her that, even though you love chocolate, you were not likely to want to eat a chocolate unicorn. And besides, where I would find such a creature …
Your Perspective
A student of mine committed suicide yesterday. She was the mother of two. All this worry about writing seems like nonsense today.
Are you offended yet?
"I met another girl called Marta once." Pause. "But she was Mexican." Or maybe they say Russian. I've also had this conversation. "Where are you from?" "Florida." "No. Where are you from?" "I'm from Florida." Exasperation. "But your name is Marta and you talk different. Where are you from?" And this. "Wow, Marta. You're English …
I think I made you up inside my head.
In one college English class, I had to choose a poem, get several people (English and non-English majors) to read the poem, interview each person about the poem, and write a report about the results. I hated the class, but I loved this assignment. The poem--a villanelle (I didn't give the poem's title or the …
Mad Girl
Like many a good college girl in 1988, I wrote a paper about Sylvia Plath. About one paper, my professor wrote Marta, You combine striking images (of your own & from Plath) with some careful assessment of this love-and-hate affair. I appreciate your moving beyond the easy Freudian interpretations of a life, which in its …
Pay What You Owe
October 18, 1984 Dear Marta, I just talked with your grandmother over the telephone, so let's get the unpleasant business out of the way. She tells me that she paid part of the doctor's bill for your examination of your ankle. How is that? Did I not give you $150. in cash? Please pay the …
If people were perfect, would we have fiction?
On February 6, 1989, my mother wrote It has occurred to me that much of what would go to build your reservoir you will draw on as a writer are things, have been things, that it might trouble you to write knowing I--or your dad or your grandmother--might read. There's probably nothing you could write …
Continue reading If people were perfect, would we have fiction?
Letters from the Dead
Don't speak ill of the dead. Do you follow this rule? A while ago, I decided to write a few posts using letters I've received from different people over the years. I went looking for the letters. Most I found. The letters from my mother I didn't. Hours passed as I tore through boxes looking. …
Box the life right out of me.
"That's all we are in the end. A pile of boxes." That's a line from the 8th episode of Torchwood. The team has to go through the belongings of a dead colleague. This came to mind this week as my husband and I got ready for new carpet. Everything had to come off the floor. …
No respect for you, missy. None at all.
I'm in the midst of an art marathon, but I read this article the other day and it has been swirling in my head since. The article on why science-fiction (and I'll toss fantasy into the mix) writers can't win respect (or literary prizes). And I hate to cast even the slightest negative shadow over …
Marta Bacon 