stigmas

Inside and peeking out of our small but tall stand of corn are these cowlicks of silk. Each stalk has two ears of corn, and each ear sprouts a tuft of silk. These were planted late and are still too small to harvest yet. I see corn silk as a nuisance, really, when I shuck the husks. It sticks to my fingers like spider filaments as I try to twist-swipe it from the glossy kernels. I don't have patience to pick off every last one. This has been my job since I was a girl. Funny, these strands are the stigmas of the female flowers, and they are a "stigma" to me who husks corn. I wait a little impatiently now for the cobs to mature and so the beauty of the silk makes me wonder why we don't want to eat it. We discard it instead, like so many delicacies.