Monday, December 11, 2006

Sonnet Sunday: Hunting Mushrooms

Mushroom Hunting

Beware the Fly Amanita, whose cap,
Bright red with yellow spots, practically shouts
Its alkaloids are poison. The Death Cap
Is worse and the Destroying Angel counts
Among the deadliest of mushrooms. Fungi
Are mostly underground, their mushrooms fruit
Of a larger mycelium formed by hyphae.
(The metaphor of the iceberg here would do.)
Mushroom gathering is a risky task.
Avoid anything white with white gills.
Carry a guide book so you can ask
Which fungi’s not accompanied by ills.
A single mushroom is enough for death;
A single fool enough for a last breath.


I just took a three-day break from blogging, not deliberately but because it felt right. And in those brief days I fear my poetic skill has plummeted, as witnessed by this sonnet meant for Sonnet Sunday. Following a little mushroom seminar I attended, Kathleen and I have been hunting mushrooms and we cooked up a couple of Chanterelles the other night which were delicious.

There’s also the deadline for having designed a website, namely today, for my html class. My brain has been like cement but I pulled it together to make some kind of a website. Not entirely primitive but not entirely stylish either.

The increased dose of my new antidepressant seems to be helping me, but I’m not out of the woods yet. Mornings seem to be worst, when I have anxiety and my mind rehearses all its little circles of doom: what I can’t do, what I should do, what I will do and all the rest.

I don’t know if I’m on the road to mental health, since I’ve had quite a few false starts in the last eight months. One can only hope that we got the cocktail right.

Thine,

CE

4 comments:

  1. CE
    I was reading about mushrooms recently. There was one (it may have been the destroying angel, I'm not sure) that looks like a common variety, but which can kill you even if taken in small amounts.

    I got fascinated by it. But it's a risky business. I'd be terrified to eat a mushroom I'd picked myself - just in case. So good on you for having the courage.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous7:43 PM PST

    Good on Ya CE.
    3-d hiatus.
    shrink wrapped.
    wanted to add some
    gnomes but oh - well
    these ones are soft similar
    to chew toys/and
    no hepatotoxicity.

    http://anbesttoys.en.alibaba.com/offerdetail/52258840/Sell_Stuffed_Mushroom_and_Animal_Toys/showimg.html

    keep the spirits up -- those three-am wake-up calls - would
    be like all nighters.

    P.S. sonnet does nothing for me.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Your stuffed mushroom examples were the dreaded Fly Amanita! That's what I want my kids playing with. As for the sonnet, here's what I said:

    "And in those brief days I fear my poetic skill has plummeted, as witnessed by this sonnet meant for Sonnet Sunday."

    So we're in agreement there.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous10:52 AM PST

    Oh - I know. and wouldn't it be nice to have a faux onion play-toy.

    breeds
    slogans like --- Johnson & Johnson.

    no more of that slicing/tears..
    ..though my daughter tells me running under water helps.


    the skilll most likely fine, subject... well buried

    make sure you wash your hands thoreauly

    have a good week;CE

    ReplyDelete

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