Flannery O’Connor

[PrinceMyshkin]

It is not necessary to have loved Flannery O’Connor
but what a hoot it might have been!
But would she have approved
of me using “hoot,”
she who weighed her words
as if they were rosary beads
made of the fossilized tears
of Christ?

“Why do you write?’
Someone asked her once.

“Because I’m good at it,”
she answered, not a falsely humble
bone in her body.

That was Flannery, my angel,
my homely, wounded angel.



Jerry Newman © 04Mar09

[Virgil]

Nicely captured. :)

[ampoule]

She certainly had something to write about and I'm glad you do too. Nice. :)

[PrinceMyshkin]

She certainly had something to write about and I'm glad you do too. Nice. :)

The poem was prompted by a review of a new biography of her:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/01/books/review/Williams-t.html

Fine and interesting except for a thoroughly invasive and unnecessary description of the first and possibly only romantic kiss she ever received. Pure insensitive sensationalism on the part of the reviewer (and of the biographer). My God! Do we really hunger for such intimate details re the lives of our cultural heroes?

[ampoule]

My God! Do we really hunger for such intimate details re the lives of our cultural heroes?


Well......yes. ;)

[firefangled]

Very personal and well wrought homage.

You describe her meditation on how she chose her words very well. If I may, I remember reading this about that a long time ago. I hunted it because my paraphrase would have not done it service.

"The thing to do is write something with a delayed reaction like those capsules that take an hour to melt in the stomach. In this way, it could be performed on Monday and not make them vomit until Wednesday, by which time they would not be sure who was to blame. This is the principle I operate under and I find it works very well. "

[PrinceMyshkin]

Very personal and well wrought homage.

You describe her meditation on how she chose her words very well. If I may, I remember reading this about that a long time ago. I hunted it because my paraphrase would have not done it service.

"The thing to do is write something with a delayed reaction like those capsules that take an hour to melt in the stomach. In this way, it could be performed on Monday and not make them vomit until Wednesday, by which time they would not be sure who was to blame. This is the principle I operate under and I find it works very well. "

I sometimes wonder whether her professed Catholicism was her true religion or whether a certain robust sense of humour was! I recall her alleged retort to a secular friend who asked her what the symbolic meaning of the eucharist was, to which she is reported to have replied:

"If it was a symbol, I'd say to hell with it!"

[PrinceMyshkin]

Well......yes. ;)

Well, make ME one of your cultural heroes and I'll make even your callused ears turn bright red!

[firefangled]

I sometimes wonder whether her professed Catholicism was her true religion or whether a certain robust sense of humour was! I recall her alleged retort to a secular friend who asked her what the symbolic meaning of the eucharist was, to which she is reported to have replied:

"If it was a symbol, I'd say to hell with it!"

:lol: :D :lol:

Speaking as an ex-altar boy, often left alone in the sacristy, the big euchari are not too bad with sherry.

[PrinceMyshkin]

:lol: :D :lol:

Speaking as an ex-altar boy, often left alone in the sacristy, the big euchari are not too bad with sherry.

Ah you poor Gentiles who had to make do with sherry instead of Manischewitz kosher for Passover red wine! (Although, come to think of it, if you're a Gentile with diabetes, you're fortunate not to have encountered that!).

[firefangled]

Ah you poor Gentiles who had to make do with sherry instead of Manischewitz kosher for Passover red wine! (Although, come to think of it, if you're a Gentile with diabetes, you're fortunate not to have encountered that!).

No diabetes, just an early appreciation of good sherry. I've been hitting port the last few years. We always end up with the hard stuff you know.

[ampoule]

I sometimes wonder whether her professed Catholicism was her true religion or whether a certain robust sense of humour was! I recall her alleged retort to a secular friend who asked her what the symbolic meaning of the eucharist was, to which she is reported to have replied:

"If it was a symbol, I'd say to hell with it!"

That may not be as funny as we think. Don't Catholics believe the eucharist is the true body of Christ, which could make her reply sound as if she was very serious about her religion? We Methodists, on the other hand, love symbols. We just eat them up! ;):sick:

[ampoule]

Well, make ME one of your cultural heroes and I'll make even your callused ears turn bright red!

Hey! Hold on there. My ears happen to be soft and supple and nibbly.

[PrinceMyshkin]

Hey! Hold on there. My ears happen to be soft and supple and nibbly.

Indeed! Fit for a cowboy to croon into about his lost l'il dogies!