Five for Flannery (c)

Preface

 Young girl…

Concentrating…

Reading her picture book…

Transported by images, words

Genius

College

Steady gaze

Poised, pretty, wise,

Already successful,

Discovering her audience

Knowing

Portrait

Lupus

Is evident.

The attack was acute,

Giving her a bit of a moon-face.

Straw hat

Front Porch

Woman

Sits with crossed legs,

Writes another page, rocks

In her high-backed, caned rocking chair.

Summer

Peacocks

Strutting,

Spreading feathers,

“Tail glittering green-gold…

stepping at a strained attention…”

Phoenix.

Notes:  These verses are cinquains, inspired by photographs I discovered of Flannery O"Connor on the Internet.  The quotations about peacocks were taken from “The Displaced Person,” a short story by Flannery O’Connor.  (O’Connor, Flannery, The Complete Stories.  New York:  Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2000.)