Tuesday, February the 14th, 2006

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Identification With Buttercups

Today's quotation is taken from one of the many splendid poems on the Teen Angst website. This is a collection of magnificently intense verse “contributed by people eighteen and over who have overcome their angst and are able to laugh at their past (and the products of their angst)”. I chose Erin Millar's piece because I, too, have often identified myself with the buttercup. Here is an extract from an interview I gave some years ago:

Interviewer—So then, Frank, if you were a flower of the field, what flower of the field would you be?

Frank—I would be a buttercup.

Interviewer—Are you saying that you would like to poison cows, or at least cause cows indigestion or other mild gastric ailments?

Frank—Sometimes, yes, if the weight of the world hangs heavy on my shoulders and I lose all sense of moral purpose, that would be true, regrettably.

Interviewer—I commend you for the brutal honesty of your reply, Frank, but you do realise that I could turn you over to the police as a potential danger to cows?

Frank—Crikey! I hadn't thought of that!

Interviewer—Is there any particular type of buttercup you particularly identify with?

Frank—Yes, there is. I would be happiest, I think, as a celeryleaf buttercup, because it is also known as cursed crowfoot.

Interviewer—Well, that's all we have time for. Thanks, Frank. [Turns to camera] If there are any cows watching, don't have nightmares. Frank isn't really a buttercup, and he's not going to come and poison you.