Hillbilly Elegy

funeral, my eyes so irritated by the end
that I could hardly see. Still, I knew this
was it, and that if I didn’t stand up and
speak my piece, I’d regret it for the rest
of my life.
I thought about a moment nearly a
decade earlier that I’d heard about but
didn’t remember. I was four or five,
sitting in a church pew for a great-
uncle’s funeral in that same Deaton
funeral home in Jackson. We had just
arrived after a long drive from
Middletown, and when the minister
asked us to bow our heads and pray, I
bowed my head and passed out.
Mamaw’s older brother Uncle Pet lay
me on my side with a Bible as a pillow