the buttercup

ranunculus acris, from dr. otto von thomé’s flora von deutschland

in a field full of buttercups, one newly-opened buttercup was particular tall and golden, proud and preening. looking down on the other meadow flowers, this buttercup noticed critically an asymmetrical petal, a faded color, or the ugly spiky swelling of a buttercup fruit. all the buttercups were glossy & shone in the sunshine, but none were as lustrous as this youngest buttercup. the buttercup compared itself to the others very favorably, and thought of its bright future and successes.

meanwhile a man & a woman walked by. the man, noticing this brightest bloom, plucked it for the woman. she took it happily but then she was filled with regret. “it’s the most beautiful one,” she said, “and now it’s going to die because it was beautiful. and next year’s flowers will be worse because of it.”

they didn’t know what kind of flower it was. not remembering the right words from biology class, they wondered whether flowers of this type were “androgynous” or (childishly) “girls and boys.” this flower couldn’t succeed as a mother, but maybe it could be a father? the woman crouched to hold it out for a bee. spooked by her threatening closeness, the bee backed off and meandered to a buttercup missing one petal. despite this imperfection the bee nestled in cosily.

the woman held on to the flower for the rest of her walk, twirling it between her fingers, but when he opened his car door for her she tossed it away.