Tag Archives: mushrooms

Day 03 – first fungi + lightning strikes

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  

mycelia celebrations

lightning strikes
mushrooms multiply

mycologists  myco
philes  &  mycophagists

celebrate thunder 
dance in storms

Day 02 – hyphens for + sizes of

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.

[NB The main poem is first & last lines only]

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fun-gi (a hyphenated exploration)

so much more than mere mushrooms, they are — 

dark-dwellers : moistness-lovers : rock-eaters : soil-makers : space-survivors : vision-inducers : mind-benders : medicine-makers : animal behaviour-manipulators : rain-generators : zombie-fiers

menu-adorners : food-producers : cheese-ripeners : grain-brewers : fruit-fermenters : bread-risers

…

influencers : of every aspect of the living Earth

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Factoid 2 – micro to macro

size really does matter

from single-celled, microscopic
beer-brewing yeast

to one massive multicellular
Armillaria ostoyae Oregon organism 

weighing 100s of tonnes & estimated 
to be at least 2 millennia old

it’s lovingly nicknamed 
the Humongous Fungus

(the beer yeast meanwhile is known
simply                           as Jeff)

Day 01 – names & nomenclature 

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.

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Day 1 – the many fine names of the mushroom

Button : Oyster : Honey : Chestnut : Cauliflower
Coral : Lobster : Puffball : Giant Puffball : Parasol 
Milky : Straw : Deer : Beech : Elm

Wine Cap : Stinkhorn Inky Cap : Black Trumpet
Hedgehog : Chicken of the Woods
Lion’s Mane : Turkey Tail
Wood Ears, Jelly Ears, & Pig’s Ears

Slippery Jack : Jack O’Lantern : Charcoal Burner
Yellowfoot : Yellow Stainer : Velvet Shank

Dryad’s Saddle : Elfin Saddle : Scarlet Elf Cup
Saffron Milk Cap : Indigo Milk Cap : 
Panther Cap : Death Cap : Tiger Sawgill : Destroying Angel

Fairy Ring : Earthstar

Chanterelle & False Chanterelle
Morel & False Morel

a list just begun : a list of poetics : & poison 
                               divination : & deception 
                               delicious : & disgusting
magic : & medicinal 
decay : & rebirth 

a list : as old : as humanity 

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Factoid 1 – genetic mind warp

the categorisation of mushrooms

neither plants : nor animals they
belong instead : to the kingdom : fungi
along with : lichens, yeasts, mildews, molds, rusts, & smuts

indeed, we’re more closely related to fungi than plants
sharing some 50% of our DNA with shrooms

Day 19 — Pookie & the Country Boy + Easter Leporidae

Been toying whether to include Pookie in this series or not given it’s a very different kind of book to the previous two; but ultimately decided I should. It’s a foundational document in my development, if not in fact, my psyche. Multiple things which appear throughout this series have become things I collect other books about.

The Poetic Factoid was a super easy one given the weekend we’re in ATM.

Note: As with previous LM poems you’ll need to click on the image to enlarge to get the full effect.

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Lawrence’s Maxim 03 – Pookie

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Day 19 Factoid – Easter Leporidae

identifying Easter 

Ears Up! originally the Easter “bunny” was a hare
(why? cos they’re a hundred times cooler, obviously)

sadly i don’t have the time (nor wisdom) to explain how 
a male bunny (Peter Cottontail) produces … eggs of all things

Day 21 — underground fungi & Gruen undercover

This poem is a sibling to yesterday’s in that it began as a verse in that Frankenpoem which did not fit in with the rest, but was an idea I liked & echoed one I’d been considering: a poem wherein Big O is a fun guy while making his way down to Hades. The title just won’t work though… 

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shroom-zoom


took a wrong turn
shimerlight lost
not even shades
wander this way
lick water from walls
but wretched hunger
will claim me first
at least i’ll die here
perhaps my psyche 
will find its way to E
only the sooty fungi
the clang of clay pots
tracking spicy spores
down into the river
at the end of the world
beginning of the universe
stars & souls & gods
all zooming by / the ache
of my internal eyes

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Day 21 — TIL about the Gruen Effect

the Gruen Effect

shopping malls (& casinos)
modern pilgrimage sites
fully enclosed  introverted
climate-controlled faux 
town squares skylight-lit food 
court pleasuredomes+parking
are intentionally designed as 
confusing customer traps /
disorienting / losing track 
of time & space / engrossing 
overwhelming experiences /
crammed with colour / bright 
lights / tantalising smells / to 
transport customers in/
to states of emotional
arousal / succumb to countless 
tempting desires / forget their original 
reason for shopping / make impulse purchases
because / they’re / available / & / attractive

\ not because \ they’re needed