The Significance of Yellow
From my rocky place I notice yellow. A yellow buoy in the blue grey water. The yellow tangles of seaweed clinging to the wet ledges. Vivid yellow lichen creeping over dark rock. The muted golden beacon of the tipi on the distant shore. The sudden hyperreality of the chrome yellow sheep grazing in the dull green field behind the beach. The natural and the surreal combine to confirm the importance of yellow. Sunshiney colour of hope and optimism. Cheerful, individual, stand out, see-me colour in a grey world. You can make your mark with yellow.
Two days later, picking out a natural object, I reject the dots of purple scabious punctuating the long grass. I walk past the emerald moss seeping on the rock. I choose instead the intense yellowness of a lone clump of ragwort growing by the river. Why so? The answer to the yellow question came at last. Flowers don’t inspire violence, don’t need courage. Even ragwort, malevolent to horses is benign for me. Botany is not so bloody. Activism saves whales and rainforests not flowers, even wild ones. So, yellow for cowardice? My riverbed mate chooses liverwort. Liverwort, the plant to heal the liver, seat of courage and passion. Her choice is made out of admiration and amazement, not for need. The need would be mine. A tonic for the lily livered, herbal help to break the taboos imposed by individualistic values, nicegirl mores, personal distaste. The meaning of yellow: not always mellow.
