Something Broken: My Mother's Story

Something Broken: My Mother's Story

Content warning: this story contains graphic details of self-injury and suicide. When Polly left home, she wore a straitjacket over a light cotton housedress of pale yellow scattered with wildflowers. She liked to wear that dress around the house, with her black penny loafers and white ankle socks, but she never wore it outside, at least not beyond the backyard. My mother wore that dress when she disappeared from my life for the first time short…