Letter to Mama by Philip Elliott

By Raja's Insight on June 5, 2018 • ( 0 )

Dear Mama,

I’m glad you didn’t see me wind up in the madhouse. You wouldn’t have said nothin but I know it woulda broke your heart. They let me out, though. That’s gotta count for something. I hope you’ll be proud of me one day. I was the one who stole Pap’s car, I feel like I should tell you that now. You knew that, though, didn’t you? I can’t be sure but I think you did. I’m grateful you didn’t say nothin to nobody. Specially Pap. He woulda beat me for a week straight. And rightly so.

Often these days I think back to when I was just a little boy on your knee. I been living out in the woods for a few months now and sometimes I really crave for someone to just hug me. But more than anybody else I want it to be you. I want to go back to when I was a little boy and sit on your knee and listen to you read from one of those fancy books you loved. I never understood much of it but I liked how the words sounded coming outta your mouth. It was like you’d change into someone else. Still you, but more magical somehow. A magical you. You built mountains and palaces and infinite, sparkling oceans with your words, Mama. I was too young to know you built them for me, to keep me safe. But I know that now and I love you for it. I hope you’re not in pain anymore.

Your little boy,

This brilliant debut consists of a prose collection of fictional letters from a deceased 26-year-old Southern American named Jeremiah John Watts (JJ). The people JJ mentions in these letters have a parallel to the alienated and confused dreamers, addicts and lost souls found in the work of the likes of Denis Johnson and William Burroughs, but JJ’s larger-than-life sentimentality as his past leaks out of his heart and onto the page puts this collection in some new sphere of perception equally brilliant but entirely its own. Gradually, the letters tell a fractured tale of a life of mistakes, heartbreak, sickness, and regret, but also love, faith, hope and perseverance.

– Heath Brougher Author, A Curmudgeon is Born, and Your Noisy Eyes

To find out more about Dreaming In Starlight read the Introduction.

$11.95 Plus Shipping ~ Available at CTU Publishing Group and Amazon.com

About the Author

Philip Elliott was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1993 and quickly started scribbling nonsense. He’s the founder and editor-in-chief of Into the Void Magazine, and his own writing can be found in various journals in 9 countries, such as Otoliths, Scarlet Leaf Review, Foliate Oak, Revista Literariedad and Flash Fiction Magazine. He has a degree in Ancient Classics, likes to blur the boundaries between fiction’s many genres, and loves above all writing that is honest and heartfelt. Philip lives in Dublin, where he gets along better with his dogs than any humans, is finishing up work on a novella and much too many other projects, and is any combination of these things: fiction writer, poet, feminist, vegan, atheist, buddhist, minimalist, mindful meditator, wandering wonderer, punk rock fanatic & very loose cannon. Stalk him at philipelliottfiction.com.

Visit Philip’s Author Page At www.ctupublishinggroup.com/philip-elliott.html

Free to Read on Kindle Unlimited At www.amazon.com/dp/B06XJCG48J