Day 18 — Penicillium + puns

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.]

Day 15 —  Psilocybin + Psilocybe 

The Festival of Grief has been subdued again this year which is surely a positive sign. Healing perhaps has arrived. The text is a compilation / reinterpretation / reworking of many people’s descriptions of what taking psilocybin felt like for them. I found the content both online in various forums & chats as well as in my printed books.

The Poetic Factoid is borderline abuse.

[Disclaimer: As with yesterday’s entry, this poem was written on the correct day (Wednesday) but was unable to get it online owing to painting, meetings, & other exhaustions.]

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Psilocybin 

you say it feels like : you’re losing your sense of self : shedding it : that it blows your mind : puts all things into perspective : clears your thinking : connects you with the universe : expands who you are : what you know : what you could be : unravels obstacles & obstructions : achieve transcendental introspection : omniscient understanding of self : the most profound lesson you learn is : how : to be your true pure self

you say it : reduces social anxiety : helps overcome severe trauma, PTSD, & extreme depression : the trauma of growing up in an evangelical church : kept you clean from cocaine & heroin for 15 years : your self loathing’s disappeared : losing your inner hate was a miracle : freed you of so much baggage : got your life back on track : become more focused, more functional : removed your mum’s end of life pain

you are kinder, more considerate, patient, peaceful : you are growing old with grace : with more joy : delight : you feel compassion for everything in existence : find every moment fascinating : see the complex synchronicity : hear for the first time : the beautiful song of the cosmos 

shows you there is infinitely more than meets the eye : allows you to look at everything in a new light : teaches perspective : to live life in such a way : it allows you to reach the highest state of consciousness possible : to achieve that infinite goal of divinity : death no longer scares : death is simply a new beginning of something ended 

formerly you were : a dry river bed : now feel full & flowing : you are the universe : & the universe is you : the stars rush towards you : swallow you up : you travel back in time : to the Big Bang : you are the Big Bang : you are everything : you talk to God : you sit with Buddha under the bodhi tree : you walk with Jesus on a beach : you speak to dead relatives 

all i seek : is three minutes : with my beautiful babies : to know you’re all okay

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Day 15 Factoid – Sometimes Names Can Be Unkind 

Psilocybe (genus name)

relatively modern word
coined in the 1950s
using modern Latin
from the Greek psilos 
meaning bald
& kubē meaning head

not quite sure 
how i feel about this

Day 14 — Triptastic + naming systems

This was a challenging poem to write because it took on a tone & indeed life of its own which was not what I was intending: trying to imagine myself as a species of mushroom. Things quickly went awry when some of the phrases demanded more like them, then counterpoints to them, then it just kept going. Slowly & surely spreading into what it is. A strange yet compelling little creature.

The Factoid is both a joke and a deadly serious accusation; a lightweight little pome which is also doing a lot of heavy lifting.

[As with yesterday’s entry, this poem was written on the correct day (Tuesday) but was unable to get it online owing to online courses, meetings, & other exhaustions.]

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[please click to enlarge image]

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Day 13 Factoid – Scientists Need to Pull Their Collective Fingers Out

Binomial Oversight

there is no
fungi named 
after me           yet

Day 22 — conundrums + more conundrums

The idea for this one has been nagging at me for several days & many of the pairs popped (or rather worked their way) into my head as I drove home from work into the setting sun. The Poetic Factoid today is actually many Factoids in one — & picks up where the first poem leaves off (there was so much I couldn’t fit in to the top poem; hence part ii).

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the great moral conundrum of our time

Life gives us choices. Constantly.

From little easy ones like:  boxers or briefs.
Vampires or werewolves. Dogs or cats.
Chips with vinegar or sauce. Autumn or spring.
Reddit or Twitter, iPhone or Android.
Toilet paper over or under. Moon or sun.
Glass half full or half empty. Running marathon
or sitting on the sofa sensibly with a book.

To big hard ones like:  pineapple on pizza
Be rich or be in love. Be talented or popular
(obviously not everyone can be both like me).
Live by the ocean or in the mountains.
Cold pizza for breakfast or hot crumpets 
for dinner. Window or aisle. Sweet or savoury.
Fiction or non-fiction. Venice or Reykjavík.

& here’s where we arrive at the prime conundrum:
Rereading old favourites or trying out new books.

If you’re looking for some wise words of wisdom from me here to guide 
your way forwards, sorry to disappoint — I’ve yet to solve this myself.

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Day 22 Factoid — reading choices

Part ii: more reader-specific conundrums

Buying more books or reading the ones you have.
(Warning: this is a strawman option 
hence why it is first on the list)
Comfy at home or in a cozy cafe.
Morning or evening; day or night.
In bed or on couch. Silence or with music.
One book at a time or many books at once.
Indoors or outdoors. Hardcover or paperback.
Audio or physical. Sci-fi or fantasy. 
Or crime or romance or historical or thriller.
Or history or memoir or nature writing.
Series or standalones. Classics or new releases.

Tea or coffee or hot chocolate while reading
Or Sauv Blanc or whiskey or GnT or even water.

Day 24 — doing one’s bit in trying times #notallheroes

winner TRIM.jpg

A smaller more personal poem today, after the excesses of yesterday.

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peak pandemic

how perfectly pleasant
to sit inside  rug on lap
book in hand  tea by side
warm as butter  slowly
melting into  hot crumpets
dog  snoring nearby

while outside  trees writhe
in the window-rattling
thunder-spreading wind
the sky grey  in all ways
& the rain hits the roof
like  a million microscopic
viruses trying to breach
my home’s   defences 

all while knowing 

i’m
helping
save
the
world

life has reached peak

.

.

Note: I’m borderline embarrassed to admit (but not quite really) that I almost spent more time looking at images of cups of tea next to books by rainy windows than I did writing the poem. OMG I’ve discovered a new way (as if one was needed) to waste valuable interwebs time.

(Hour 08) 05.30-06.30am. PROMPT, form: “pantoum”

bliss_bombs

The task was write a Pantoum (a poem with a set rhyming pattern, as you will see). In a way I kind of cheated because some of us Marathoners were chatting in our facebook group about what snacks we had laid in for the next X hours & I mentioned I’d just opened some Lolly Gobble Bliss Bombs. On overseas poet didn’t know what they were, so I described them thus: “caramel & nut coated popcorn made by blissed out angels on permanent sugar highs 😂 ” … 10 minutes later we received the prompt – write a pantoum … & so gobble was born.

gobble

love my lolly gobble bliss bombs
nut & caramel coated popcorn
made by choirs of tripped out angels
singing love songs to sugar highs

nut & caramel coated popcorn
makes my brain oh so slightly dizzy
singing love songs to sugar highs
with my fingers all licky sticky

yes my brain oh so slightly dizzy
loves my lolly gobble bliss bombs
with fingers all licky sticky
tongued by choirs of trippy angels