Salman Ansari – Fox’s Tails
$75.00
Artist Initiator: Salman Ansari
Title: Fox’s Tails
Medium: Digital Drawings; Procreate
Price: $75
Author Responder: Elana O’Loskey
Title: Outfoxed
Price: $25
Are you familiar with Hordeum murinum, better known to dog and cat owners as foxtails? These clusters of grass were named when someone noticed a resemblance to my tail, a fox’s tail. Now you get the picture.
The little monsters lodge themselves in animals’ footpads, noses, eyes, etc., causing pain, agony and even death. Would you want to be associated with such a heinous plant? Where can I bring my case to the court of public opinion to correct this injustice?
There is some urgency in my request, as the artist who created me is showing me at my worst – look at the expression on my muzzle. I ran through a field, I admit, after a vole, only to emerge with searing pain and no artist to help me. The four fox tails you see are a metaphor for what it feels like when Hordeum murinum takes over. Even Latin scholars have difficulty with this name.
An Internet search yields alternative names: mean seeds, timothy, cheatgrass, June grass, Downy Brome and alludes to even more local names. Any of these names would get me out of the – excuse the pun – doghouse. No one wants foxtails anywhere near dogs, cats, coyotes, foxes or even, yes, humans.
Please send your suggested name replacements to me, Foxy Lady at outfoxed234@gmail.com so I can plead my case. I promise not to sell your contact info.
Copyright © 2024 Elana O’Loskey
