The Coora Flower
The Coora Flower - meaning Summary
Return Forces Grown-up Vigilance
The speaker recounts learning about a distant mountain flower while preparing to leave a small, restful school vacation and return to an uneasy home. School felt like harmless respite where she could sleep and imagine young love, but returning is "Real Business": domestic tensions await, signaled by her mother and an unnamed man in the house. The poem ends in alertness and self-restraint, a wary transition from adolescence to responsibility.
Read Complete AnalysesToday I learned the coora flower grows high in the mountains of Itty-go-luba Bésa. Province Meechee. Pop. 39. Now I am coming home. This, at least, is Real, and what I know. It was restful, learning nothing necessary. School is tiny vacation. At least you can sleep. At least you can think of love or feeling your boy friends against you (which is not free from grief.) But now its Real Business. I am Coming Home. My mother will be screaming in an almost dirty dress. The crack is gone. So a Man will be in the house. I must watch myself. I must not dare to sleep.
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