Hillbilly Elegy

from me, she would call my aunt or
sister, demanding that someone come to
her house immediately and interpret my
chicken scratch. “I love you a big bunch
and I miss you a bunch I forget you
aren’t here I think you will come down
the stairs and I can holler at you it is just
a feeling you aren’t really gone. My
hands hurt today that arthritis I guess....
I’ll go for now write more later love you
please take care.” Mamaw’s letters
never contained the necessary
punctuation and always included some
articles, usually from Reader’s Digest,
to occupy my time.
She could still be classic Mamaw:
mean and ferociously loyal. About a