Not as I pictured her, enthroned
on high, fiercely Promethean
with eagles, say, or lions on the headstone --
but the square, unlandscaped family plot
sans even a drooping willow seems right.
Aligned with her father, three great-aunts opposite,
space for the mother who outlives her yet,
Flannery lies unadorned except by name
who breathed in fire and fed us on the flame.
Maxine Kumin
Excerpt, ON VISITING FLANNERYO'CONNOR'S GRAVE
Milledgeville, Ga., 1988
.
No comments:
Post a Comment