internet poetry foraging: found 1 mushroom

Posted by Melissa

Amy, holding her first mushroom specimen.

Amy and I were sharing dinner and wine together after our PSMS Mushroom ID class this past Thursday night, and as usual, we got to chatting.  Our conversations roamed through life and death, the fallible nature of humanity, and of course, mushrooms.  The night was edging on as the hours grew larger in number, and when I realized it was 11pm, I sadly had to call it a night and get to my studying for Algebra and Chemistry.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I should have left earlier." Amy obliged.

"Whatever.  I love hanging out and talking about all this stuff.  Anyway, I have been getting up super early and doing my work while everyone else is in bed.  So, no worries."  I volleyed back.

"You know," Amy shared, "Sylvia Plath use to get up early and write her poetry when she had kids."

"Yeah," I laughed, "but didn't she drown herself in a lake? Looks like it didn't work out too well."

"No, head in the oven. Virginia Woolf went in the lake, pockets full of stones." Amy corrected me.

I kept thinking of those words "head in the oven."  So blunt, so evocative.   I kept seeing my own head lying in my filthy oven, pink kitchen walls cheerily in the background.  In my vision, I must have been there for quite some time because I looked confused as to why nothing was happening.  Finally, I raised my head and shaking it while rolling my eyes with a huff.  The black chunks of burnt food fell from my dirty cheeks that were marked in lines from the oven rack.

Kneeling awkwardly, still over the oven door, it dawns on me...I have an electric oven.

***

As I sat down to write my post mushroom class blog post, I kept thinking of that ironic scene in my imagination and feeling strangely connected to Sylvia Plath.  I studied poetry in college, but I didn't remember any of her writing.  So, I got sidetracked searching for her works on line.
Serendipitously, I came across this poem.





Volunteer Park mushroom find on 4.8.11.

I'd love to dissect this poem, key it out so to speak, to use the terms of mushroom identifying.

Anyone have any thoughts as to what she is alluding to?

Anyone know of any other great mushroom poetry?

Do you think I should use this as one of my poems I memorize?

Leave me a comment below.  I would really love to hear what you think.

-Melissa