Petit Jean State Park (photo by author)

Shroomtown

by any other name…

Destroying Angel will lure you in

With her grace and ghostly skin

Jack ‘o Lantern blushes golden

Hugs the hardwoods, and pretends

To be a tasty Chanterelle, oh

The buttery glow of her

ragged, ungilled diameter.

She lives not far from The Sickener whose head

spills ruby red on bone-white stem.

Down the trail you’ll stumble still

On a faux faerie ring of them: Death Caps, no —

Do not bring them home, tho’ their fruit

Is button-cute, they’ll kill. Don’t forget:

All the forest is still full

of Amanita loot.

From the famous Agaric speckled red

To Caesarea praised in Rome, good to eat

But dangerous if she hides her true

Self, so let us go

and gather a bolete, or two.