I was pretty but not too pretty.
I kept my head down to count
sidewalk cracks, perpetually nodding.
Agreeable, always. A no that sighed
to yes. Easy to bend. The shock
when I emerged year after year,
trying to choose a direction,
following a simulacrum of who
I could be. I shuddered off my petals.
I grew all stamen, all unfruitful sex.