Love Blossoms

Nothing is more cliché than a flower. Musicians compare women to them, poets describe their beauty in detail, and cartoons of little girls pluck petals from their stems in a game of “He Loves Me… He Loves Me Not.” They’re all beautiful images in their own right, but when you...

By Christina Caldwell

April 12, 2012

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Nothing is more cliché than a flower. Musicians compare women to them, poets describe their beauty in detail, and cartoons of little girls pluck petals from their stems in a game of “He Loves Me… He Loves Me Not.” They’re all beautiful images in their own right, but when you realize those artists are glorifying the plant’s no-no bits it becomes a bit less romantic. A bunch of flowers received become less of an “I love you” and more of a hugely literal way to say “I’d like to have sex with you. Here are some plant vaginas. Now show me yours.”

There’s a reason things become cliché, and in the flower’s case it’s because they’re obviously beautiful. Setting aside the cynicism, seeing our Sonoran Desert in bloom is a breathtaking sight. To up your floral IQ, join the Deer Valley Art Rock Center’s Elizabeth Alexander on April 18 for a Desert Flowers Tour and learn how those colorful clichés come to be.

Wed., April 18, 11 a.m., 2012

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