A loose poem about mushrooms and words
Languages draw fairy rings around us,
circles of spores guarded by dapper sentries:
mushrooms, грибы, sēnes...
"Sēnes"
is imprints of grass in the cap of a slippery jack,
is fishing crumb-sized chanterelles out of a water bowl swirling with pine needles,
is cutting carefully with a piece of bark when you've got no knife on hand but you can't just leave a penny bun,
is autumnal forests, whose secrets Mom has wrested from them over years (the only way she meditates),
is the scent and steam and sizzling of sauce-in-progress,
is a handwritten soup recipe with ballpoint doodles of boletes and parsley,
and it's that banned 60s play about authenticity,
it's in the common name for kefir grains (which they say can stay even the course of cancer
for a time),
and it's what will turn us all into earth,
scientifically speaking.
"Mushrooms"
is hobbits and firbolgs,
it’s a lacquer box, drug jokes,
a word for smoke clouds
and, apparently, Lenin
to me;
what is it to you?
Let's play hopscotch.
From where I'm standing,
chanterelles, gailenes,
are shaped like rooster crests-
it's in the name.
If I stood elsewhere,
they might be hollow like Roman goblets
or golden like foxes (no, says Lithuanian, like squirrels)
or taste like pepper.
Hog mushrooms:
in Italy, that's porcini,
but in the forest near Grandma's house-those greenish, muddy milk-caps.
And what trees partner with red-hot milk caps, anyway?
Estonian alone can't decide whether it's alders or pines.
Wikipedia says also birches, spruces, and that btw these mushrooms are toxic.
I saw them in the farmer's market last time I went. There's a trick to cooking them.
Isn't that ever the case-
things seen as harmless or healing or illegal depending on where?
Folk wisdom says
you can easily tell if an unfamiliar mushroom is poisonous with some weird little tests (false)
and that all mushrooms can be eaten, though some-only once (true).
I was never that good at mushrooming. My kind of silent hunt
is for meanings.
My basket overflowing with words, my shirt an impromptu bag with the sleeves tied shut,
I bring you these seasonal treats,
my friend from foreign forests.
I hope you like them.
------------
Written for an English-speaking friend, but everyone is welcome to Bring Your Own mushroom opinions to the comment section if you've got 'em. Do you like mushrooms? Do you ever go mushrooming? Are red-hot milk caps edible?...
This entry was originally posted at https://thenewbuzwuzz.dreamwidth.org/232458.html.
circles of spores guarded by dapper sentries:
mushrooms, грибы, sēnes...
"Sēnes"
is imprints of grass in the cap of a slippery jack,
is fishing crumb-sized chanterelles out of a water bowl swirling with pine needles,
is cutting carefully with a piece of bark when you've got no knife on hand but you can't just leave a penny bun,
is autumnal forests, whose secrets Mom has wrested from them over years (the only way she meditates),
is the scent and steam and sizzling of sauce-in-progress,
is a handwritten soup recipe with ballpoint doodles of boletes and parsley,
and it's that banned 60s play about authenticity,
it's in the common name for kefir grains (which they say can stay even the course of cancer
for a time),
and it's what will turn us all into earth,
scientifically speaking.
"Mushrooms"
is hobbits and firbolgs,
it’s a lacquer box, drug jokes,
a word for smoke clouds
and, apparently, Lenin
to me;
what is it to you?
Let's play hopscotch.
From where I'm standing,
chanterelles, gailenes,
are shaped like rooster crests-
it's in the name.
If I stood elsewhere,
they might be hollow like Roman goblets
or golden like foxes (no, says Lithuanian, like squirrels)
or taste like pepper.
Hog mushrooms:
in Italy, that's porcini,
but in the forest near Grandma's house-those greenish, muddy milk-caps.
And what trees partner with red-hot milk caps, anyway?
Estonian alone can't decide whether it's alders or pines.
Wikipedia says also birches, spruces, and that btw these mushrooms are toxic.
I saw them in the farmer's market last time I went. There's a trick to cooking them.
Isn't that ever the case-
things seen as harmless or healing or illegal depending on where?
Folk wisdom says
you can easily tell if an unfamiliar mushroom is poisonous with some weird little tests (false)
and that all mushrooms can be eaten, though some-only once (true).
I was never that good at mushrooming. My kind of silent hunt
is for meanings.
My basket overflowing with words, my shirt an impromptu bag with the sleeves tied shut,
I bring you these seasonal treats,
my friend from foreign forests.
I hope you like them.
------------
Written for an English-speaking friend, but everyone is welcome to Bring Your Own mushroom opinions to the comment section if you've got 'em. Do you like mushrooms? Do you ever go mushrooming? Are red-hot milk caps edible?...
This entry was originally posted at https://thenewbuzwuzz.dreamwidth.org/232458.html.