California Poppies
Forbidding flower
Reveals seductive beauty
Fence rejects meantime
I identify Half Moon Bay with the blue of the ocean, the green of the hills and the distinctive flowers I repeatedly see in the various seasons. The flowers, they bring an immediate smile and a sense of pleasure to me.
The orange poppies with their conical flowers represent pure joy to me. They show up in profusion everywhere in spring. Occasionally they have the slightly off orange shades that they make me want to look at them again and again.
Passion flower, what a great name. Strong crimson on even stronger design of petals – there is no mistaking them. The flowers contrast against deep dark three-lobed leaves. Hard to go by without taking a second look.
The naked ladies- these are the most stunning flowers and some of the strangest. Pink horns on long stalks – elegant and other-worldly, they lie be edges of streets and sometimes on the hill-sides. The fascinating part is that you see no evidence of them- no leaves and you don’t even see the plants. Suddenly in September, you see these royal stalks taking their bows. And then they disappear. These plants seem to only live for that short period of beauty and their pro-creation only.
But why do humans so often use these symbols of beauty as the means of pushing others away. They so often make up the fences of humans, keeping away people, but oddly welcoming at the same time.
