Mushrooming
In the autumn you go mushrooming
amid the buried bones of spring
Overgrown now with decay
a moldering extant array
of life
From death
You take a closer look
Galerina marginata shape a skullcap
scapula
Amanita muscaria glid the tibia and
fibula
Conocybe filaris frost the femurs and
phalanges
Cortinarius rubellus caps the rib heads and
thorasics
Podostroma cornu-damae claim the corneas and
retinas
The scarlet stalks that stare as you walk
closer
Until you are within
Reach
A leaf brushes your face
and as it falls
You take a step back
Back
You leave these mushrooms here
The bones will be gone by next year
Fenn MacDonald
Fenn MacDonald is a poet, fiction writer, and editor currently haunting the Pacific Northwest. They enjoy long walks in the woods, quality time with cats, and wistful dreams of the sea.