Seems like there’s a few mushroom memory poems in me trying to make their way out. So we’d best let them. It is an interesting corollary of creative activity that once you start down a certain pathway of thinking/exploration, more & more bubbles to the surface, including things you may not have thought about in decades or even remember you remembered.
WARNING: The Factoid is a pretty shocking and revelatory reveal that will quite possibly BLOW your mind.
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field mushrooms Agaricus multitudinous
one of my favourite memories as a child was wandering the wet grassed dew paddocks in my wellies
& finding huge white beauties with chocolate brown gills smelling of earth & muddy fertility some the size of plates
talking with my parents several days ago we agreed don’t see as many as we used to anecdotally at least
back then the adventure was the finding not the eating some things stay the same but others change drastically
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Day 08 Factoid – Not all mushrooms taste the same
the unusual instance of 3 mushrooms in 1 Agaricus bisporus
1. Button entirely white baby blobs of bland reason for near universal popularity unknown
2. Cremini brown capped no visible gills firmer texture difficult to source in Oz
3. Portobello large rugged roofed flat brown caps & visible gills at last looking like a proper mushy
4. Revelation all these mushrooms are the same the minor difference is age the major difference is taste (you’re welcome)
This one has been building for many days. In an ideal world, perhaps it should have been the first poem of the month. But it’s not. What ya gonna do about it? It’s here now. & it’s okay.
The Poetic Factoid has the potential to be revisited in a bigger poem later on as there’s lots of interesting things about that particular topic.
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first impressions
when i think of mushrooms : it’s almost always something primal : something primitivistic : something pagan : something archetypal : something out of the dim distant past : something older than dinosaurs : something ancient & eternal : more chthonic than Cthulhu : yet still something otherworldly : something Lovecraftian : something neverending : something overpowering : something from Ovid’s Metamorphosis : constantly transforming
primordial : growing among the decay : the rot : the hummus holes of homes : the wet humble detritus of life : in a forest : in a cave : somewhere dark : somewhere dank : somewhere quiet : somewhere eternal : somewhere enchanted intertwined entangled beguiled
yet for all this : passionate : active : evocative : working hard to make the world better : to restore : to regenerate : to rejuvenate
to con : tinue on
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Day 06 Factoid — Space fungi are badassess
star spores
7 years ago a number of unoffending fungi were deliberately attached to the hull of the ISS by malicious scientists
exposing them to a year of space’s malevolent triple threat cosmic radiation complete vacuum & Kelvin-level temps
despite the deep freeze many both survived the ordeal & were capable of reproducing themselves afterwards
hinting at the possibility fungi could well be excellent interstellar explorers
FOG Day 1 of 2. Nothing like getting it out of the way early on.Another Case Study poem, with a slight difference to yesterday’s & probably all that conceivably will follow it. Note: I’m pretty pleased with today’s poem also which means heavy redaction.
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Case Study: Aboriri gravis #2: Tomb Dweller
[please click to enlarge image]
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Factoid Day 05 – TIL I learnt about potential biblical fungi
manna mania
that the bible does not mention mushrooms once says everything i need to know
yet some cheeky scholars suggest the small round things that appear after morning dew — are psilocybin mushrooms
Because it is a weekend I’m attempting a Case Study poem, focussing on one specific mushroom. You’ll recognise it as soon as you see it, even if you don’t know its name.
Note: I’m really pleased with today’s main poem which means (unfortunately for you) that it’s heavily redacted. Hopefully the three stanzas I’ve left give enough of a taste of it.
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Case Study: Amanita muscaria #1: Fly Agaric
[please click to enlarge image]
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Factoid Day 4 – TIL I learnt more about festive costumes
mushroom suit
some believe this stereotypical bright red shroom : with white dots beloved symbol of fairy tales may even be the inspiration : for one very famous : red-&-white
costume : of a certain benevolent : (generosity inspired by ritual buzz?) Claus-comma-Santa : harking back to his : Bacchanalian : pagan : wild man of the forest : Siberian shamanic roots
Paleo evidence of fungi is naturally limited, their bodies being soft & squishy & such. But some lifeforms have been found frozen in rock. This is about them, the Adams & Eves of the fungi family, well not tree, but you get what I mean.
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Prototaxites
imagine a quiet landscape : strange & surreal to our cellulose-centric : eyes : 400 million years past : before flowers : before forests : & long : before dinosaurs
most plants barely : tickling ankles : no trees : no reptiles : no shade : probably even very little sound : nothing for the wind to whisper wispily through
but rising from the ground : grand pillars : things : neither of stone : nor wood : taller than a typical house vertical structures : fingers pointing
while mammals still swam : the primordial ocean this potential precursor to fungi : is king
*Scientists debate what Prototaxites actually was: a giant fungus, a lichen-like organism, or a completely extinct branch of life with no modern descendants. But let’s not let mere quibbles stand in the way of a nice sonnet.
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Factoid 3 – Lightning can speed up mushroom growth & potentially double production
When people think of fungi they probably don’t appreciate all that they do on our earth. Mushrooms (sometimes magic), toadstools & causing food to rot probably the main contenders. I want to take a moment to offer a playful hyphenated version of some (probably not even all) of the extraordinary things fungi is capable of based on my research over the years.
*Poems were written yesterday but too tired to upload before midnight. Fell asleep in computer chair.
April. Always after March. Every damn year. So soon in the season too. Thus Na/GloPoWriMo 2026.
Spent yesterday being super organised & preparing for a whole other theme … but this idea has been roiling around in the back of my mind for some years. And so — a 20th hour decision meant tossing all that work out & going with my gut.
This year’s themes-based approach means I seek to write 30 poems about mushroom & fungi. (Things I love; have [read/possess] multiple books about; & am truly fascinated by.)
Sometimes the poem might be about mushrooms themselves, searching for them in the forests, recipes, their role in nature, literature, whatever. Othertimes I might take one of the many unusual exotic names as a title & riff off that on a totally unrelated tangent with only the name as common denominator.
As previously III, since many journals/comps/etc refuse to accept poems even if they’ve only been on personal Facebook pages or blogs with minimal subscribers I won’t be posting the entirety of each poem on my blog, but a [hopefully] tantalising snippet.
I’m uncertain yet whether I shall undertake to write a daily Poetic Factoid poem. Feels like there’s a lot on this month already! Even these short silly poems often work quite well, better than the main event sometimes. Perhaps I should just write these & bugger the serious bunk.
April is always a challenging month. After a dozen of these NaPoWriMos I think I’m starting to get the hang of it. That said, still incredibly draining churning out X poems a day (even when you’re only working a half day like today). You feel good when you get to the end. You feel better in a fortnight when you reread what you created & realise a lot of it is actually pretty cool. That said said, this year was also perhaps the easiest because of the subject matter. I really love books. I really love reading. And I really loved this assignment.
She’s already been mentioned 3 times in other poems this month so it won’t be a surprise to read her name because it was at once tough & not that tough to choose. Sure, there might be other books I’ve probably read more often: Tolkien, The Belgariad, Harry Potter, A Christmas Carol, Pride & Prejudice, Bill Bryson’s Shakespeare &/or The English Language, or Blake’s Songs of Innocence, etc — but there’s something about the Green Gables Anne that just sticks. She’s always getting into trouble, but her charm always gets her out of it. Been planning to end with it for several weeks so lines have been popping in & out for days. It was fun to work on. And yes I reread key scenes & yes I cried like a bub-bub just as I have done for over 40 years.
The closing Factoid however I wasn’t sure what to do for that, until it just arrived. Like a full stop at the end of a sentence; a finis at the close of a play.
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Anne with an E
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Day 30 Factoid — Personal Factoid
life choices
of all the multitude of glorious things one chooses to do in life
so not just breathing or eating or sleeping all kind of compulsory
without question i’ve — even more than write — chosen to read books
gareth roi poet boi 