“Mushroom Hunting at the Ski Basin”
Driving up the ski-basin road, I spot purple asters
and know it is time; near a blood-red, white-
flecked amanita, I dig two red-capped boletes
out of the earth; green-stained Lactarius
and yellow-capped Cortinarius vanished decades ago,
but, hunting mushrooms, I deepen through repetition.
A dancer repeats steps until she no longer knows
any steps; a violinist plays notes until he is living
in the marrow of silences. When clouds gather
and gather, I cannot predict lightning and rain;
I step on dry topsoil but sense moisture beneath.
In this life, if you do not know what you are looking for,
how can you find it? A great horned owlet
perched on a branch sees into a world at dusk;
a bee hovers over a saguaro blossom
in noon heat. Foraging among spruce and fir,
I wander over an unseen web of mycelium
connecting all roots and branches;
a thrumming in my bones marks
an underworld beginning to burst into sight.
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