"A Call For Wildness" by Edward Lee
Allegra Wilson | oh to be inside a body that can
After Rikke Reese Naesborg
lick witch’s
butter from a fallen log
after fir forest shower. Split
open candy cap to lap
syrup from its gills,
its hollow-boned stipe.
Tongue carat-seed eggs out
of milk-brown whiskered
bird’s nests. Watch
the nests themselves digest
released tree’s branches.
To be a mushroom: feast
on heartwood, insist inside
the crag of grand fir bark, swallow
the reservoir of sap. Have roots
as deep as redwood, penetrating
duff, dirt. But spine spiked
icicles. Lips mulched,
they could not mouth decay.
Cryptic, the faithful
lichen keeps secrets
inside fungal filaments.
lick witch’s
butter from a fallen log
after fir forest shower. Split
open candy cap to lap
syrup from its gills,
its hollow-boned stipe.
Tongue carat-seed eggs out
of milk-brown whiskered
bird’s nests. Watch
the nests themselves digest
released tree’s branches.
To be a mushroom: feast
on heartwood, insist inside
the crag of grand fir bark, swallow
the reservoir of sap. Have roots
as deep as redwood, penetrating
duff, dirt. But spine spiked
icicles. Lips mulched,
they could not mouth decay.
Cryptic, the faithful
lichen keeps secrets
inside fungal filaments.
Allegra Wilson is a writer living in Northern California. Her work has recently appeared in Bear Review, The Inflectionist Review, Action, Spectacle, and BRAWL.
Edward Lee is an artist and photographer from Ireland. His paintings and photography have been exhibited and published widely, with many pieces in private collections. His website can be found at https://lastimagesphotography.com
Instagram: @edwardleeart
Instagram: @edwardleeart
