Poppies for drama, roses for remembrance . . . The iconography of flowers comes and goes throughout this Poppy project. Just finished reading a biography of Robert Mapplethorpe, wherein his photographs of flowers (among others) were discussed and dissected. Flowers don’t have to be “pretty” to be beautiful. There is something especially arresting about a fantastic rose, say, like this one, just about to turn the corner into decay, its petals ever so lightly tinged with brown. . . Like a gorgeous girl who’s slightly sick, a perfect statue with rot at its base. Beauty is where you find it, as Mapplethorpe knew so well.