The Sunflower of her Mouth

Helianthus annuus - 9 August 2026

 An October Fall in Lillooet

For me there is a beauty in family traditions. One of them is that every year my daughter Alexandra who lives in Lillooet brings me some of her sunflowers. This year I kept her gift in the pot and did not plant it in the back lane which was part of the tradition. I cut these two spent flowers to scan them. There are many buds in the rest of the plant so more rewards are in store.

It was many years ago that my grandmother and I went to a show in Mexico City of a young Filipino painter. We stood in front of a Mexican huarache and my abuelita told the painter, “That is ugly.” The painter retorted, “Ah, the beauty of ugliness.” I have never forgotten. I have loved ever since the imperfect. This scan of Helianthus annuus is beautiful just like that huarache.

I like the Spanish word for sunflower – girasol. Girar is to turn. So the Spanish word suggests that the flower moves to always face the sun. Julio Cortázar in his great work Rayuela (Hopscotch) write in the beginning about his protagonist Horacio Oliveira who evokes the smile or the way his Lucía (his love interest) in this way:

“Quiero decir que abría el girasol de su boca.”

“I want to say she opened the sunflower of her mouth

Alexandra , Lloyd and My Rosemary in Lillooet