[Issue 2023.66]

‘The Fungal Force: A History’, Colleen Anderson

Art © 2023 Melkorka

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It began with the men in blue
plus a few other people in government succumbed
when each breath they drew labored with hate
      that inky hard bolus enlarged
      stewing the guts
      clenching their lungs
      till yellow bile oozed from their pores

Only those who executed
ignoring all peoples’ rights
meting terror, injustice’s delight
      a gun to the back of the black man on his knees
      an Indigenous child dropped at the town’s outskirts
      in minus twenty degrees
      ignoring the mounting numbers
      of the murdered and missing
      because they were women; not white; just a tease

Each bilious heart and mind invited dark spores
which clogged mouths like hell’s pit
as they coughed out slate clouds
      the dispersals found ripe breeding grounds
      arias by Aspergillus, Fusarium, Candida Auris
      gathered acolytes in America, South Korea, Romania, Belarus

In the first wave white populations declined at a rapid rate
males fell two to one, stopped in their tracks
suspicions outgrew the strange fungal fugue
      poisoned tongues spit more blame
      at blacks, the gays, women, Roma, and Jews
      the fallout landed on the thin skins of haters
      birthing Death Cap, Fly Agaric, Amanita Virosa

Mushrooms multiplied, erupting from flesh
sprouting on lips, blinding eyes to racial divisions
some never left their homes, moldered in bedrooms, stilling, alone
      soon odd-shaped growths forested the streets
      the silent army spread to other locales
      Israel, Cambodia, the Kremlin hit hard
      every country, all races, each gender as well

No one escaped spores if they were sown by hate
only children before puberty’s release remained safe
wars became mycelial landscapes
but leaders more often than soldiers were doomed
      anger was fine, even if righteous and just
      those protesting wrongs remained unscathed
      but the moment anger rolled to despising another
      the heart turned to pitch and sealed their fate

The great fungal forests now carpet all lands
the most spectacular bring tourists to view vast cities and fields
      people stand quietly staring at human-form mushrooms
      no one attempting to sample that deathly yield
      remembering the days when fear weighed many hearts
      in so many people hunted by hate

The animal kingdom has paid its due
the mycelial calm now rules the world
      this network that threads all living things
      in shadow or sun, to live in peace, a symbiosis
      to live as one

© 2023 Colleen Anderson

[Issue 2023.66]

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