bacteria | gareth roi poet boi

I present to you today, an ode to the perhaps [definitely?] the greatest of all fungi on earth. This might seem a somewhat cheesy comment but I’ll let you decide once you’ve read.

The Factoid is finally pulled out of the drawer after holding off on it for, oh 17 & 1/2 days.

[Disclaimer: As with yesterday’s entry, this poem was written on the correct day (Saturday) but was unable to get it online owing to snowballs careening down hills, sports events, & other exhaustions.]

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Case Study: the Penicillium family #5: Fungi’s Most Fantastic?

[please click to enlarge image]

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Day 18 Factoid – This Really Did Happen (Maybe)

A Joke Repurposed

A Scot, an Aussie, an Englishman,
& a mushroom walk into a bar

The bartender says, “You three look like hoots
But you” (staring at the shroom) “gotta go!”

To which the mushroom whines
“C’mon mate, I’m a fungi too!”

[C’mon yourselves, surely you’ve been
expecting this to pop up somewhere.]

Almost every poem this month to date has been, in essence, a love poem. To books. To reading. To reading books. This one, breaks that pattern.

The Poetic Factoid is actually a series of Hypertext Factoids with Bactoids — It’s a poem where every line has a hypertext link to verify its claim. About why Reading is good for you. (A familiar theme true, but these are more of the facts I’ve collected along the way as I research. Originally they were just gonna be the text from the articles, but then I realise a couple of them rhymed; then I made the rest do so as well. It was fun.)

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dirty books

do alarm me : a little : i sometimes think : who held this before me : & worse : what did they hold as they held this book : various things have been :: in :: second hand books i’ve bought : & i don’t just mean : abandoned bookmarks : & forgotten pressed flowers : but other things : have been caught : like muffin crumbs : jam smears : peanut butter blotches : is that tomato sauce : have you been eating Cheezels : or Mac’n’Cheese : squashed mosquitoes : & miscellaneous other bugs : can now tell the difference : i believe : between coffee plops & tea drops : wait is that blood : no i don’t want to know :: & sometimes : i think even worse : the things i cannot see : are actually the curse : like getting medical & technical for a sec : what if the previous reader was sick : germs bacteria fungi microbes : how many of them are still hanging around : did the previous reader : wash their hands : not just after gardening : or emptying the bin : please tell me : i’m not holding microscopic : drips of pee : or for that matter //

// look it doesn’t matter : i think i’ll put the book down : just for a bit : while i go & take :: some time out

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Day 29 Factoid Overload — Hypertext Factoids with Bactoids

reading …

reduces stress
aids academic success

boosts brain connectivity
improves your memory

more than one book at a time challenges & improves cognitive flexibility
can be used as a form of therapy

expands your vocabulary
develops empathy

gives your brain a comprehensive workout
causes new neural pathways to sprout

improves concentration a heap
before bed gives a better night’s sleep

to kids supercharges early language acquisition
whereas kids reading to dogs improves their own condition

makes you kinder
protects you from prison (kinda)