–

A Season of Many Mushrooms

Mushrooms
nudge and cling
everywhere
through the
wet and rain
with soggy feet;
no wonder
they are shaped
like umbrellas.
They meekly
inherit the earth
with no roots
and no leaves;
they gain ground,
a burgeoning start-up,
embarking on a
low budget venture,
feasting on cheap, fecund,
non-living organic stuff,
thriving in dark,
damp places,
sprouting in neglected,
hidden spots,
like apathy festering;
quiet, fast-growing,
infiltrating, permeating,
so humble as to be base
insinuating, proliferating,
both potent and overlooked
many are yummy and edible,
beneficial to eat
and full of glowing nutrients
but some are dangerously hallucinogenic
while others are deathly poisonous–
they represent uncertainty
and the desperate, glaring need
for caution, discernment,
wisdom, and knowledge
of the thousands of species
and charlatan facsimiles
that are pushing needles aside,
and shooting up
born of too many
cloudbursts and torrents
inundating, they besiege
and throng in hordes
littering the landscape
varied, striped,
colorful or drab,
capped, bland
so in this fairy tale at least
please spare us any more drama
and instead, be a plain, good,
wholesome, considerate, safe,
ethically respectful,
fun-guy.

by Polly Castor
10/22/18

–