Ode to Fungi

Ode to Fungi

— By Robin Rose Bennett

Mushrooms, like vultures,
(Who are also under-appreciated)
eat death and decay.
They thrive on it.
Fungi eat Death and feed Life.
They are connected under the ground, mostly hidden,
in a vast symbiotic web of bacteria, plants and soil
Interwoven.
We’re all invisibly woven together,
We breathe the same air, in and out through the millennia
We receive our breath from the plants and trees
who are nourished by the fungi.
When we eat and drink these mushrooms,
The ones that deepen and broaden our consciousness of connection,
The ones that strengthen and protect us from harmful pathogens,
the ones that enliven our meals with unusual flavors and textures,(Preferably not the ones who would be happy to bring us into their beloved land of decay and death)
Perhaps they can help us compost current ways of being,
Current ways that are crumbling
Because they are inauthentic, unkind, and depend on
Strengthening the lie of separation,
A separation that does not actually exist.
That Can Not in Truth exist.
Mushrooms spread hope and healing.
They can help us remember
Older ways of Being in Relationship to one another,
of Knowing the Truth.
We are One Love
in an endless array of appearances.

©2023