rites of summer

clematis vines surround the door at my mom’s house. their late-may/early-june, blooms are a highly anticipated sign of summer for us. i did not pick this bud because of it’s sexual suggestion. it was merely the size and onion-dome shape that caught my attention. but now that i have taken this photo, it’s pretty much all i can see. even the finger-like tips at the crown look like the infundibulum of fallopian tubes. yet another reminder that all life is more alike than different.

clematis flower bud