It's normal for young bamboo plants to abort new shoots every now and then as the plant determines whether it has enough energy to complete the process. (I speak of determination in the botanical sense, as the hopes and dreams of a plant are a mystery to me; I can only observe from the outside.) Bamboo plant  Echo had put up a culm that stopped growing about 10 inches off the ground. I assumed this was normal. I was wrong.

The tip of a bamboo culm grows like a spear thrusting out from the underworld by a wretched soldier of Hades. This ill-fated foray fell perfectly into a twisted ring of metal. This band of iron choked the life out of the plant. Bamboo grows from the tip upwards, like an extending toy lightsaber. Its own growth sealed its fate. 

When I finally discovered this, months after I noticed the aborted culm, I was distraught. I had been clearing grass from around Echo and peeled away the drying husk around the culm and saw it. Above the choke point, Echo had tried to grow, and sliver of plant had struggled through before it died, giving a gleaming white middle finger to the world.

The culm below the ground was still green and vibrant. I am curious to see what it will do next.

I now investigate the rising culms as soon as I see them more closely. The world is crueler to bamboo than I ever expected, and Echo and I are now a bit more prepared for it.