Mushroom poem

Wendy Dreskin - Mistress of Mushrooms
by Silvia Lange January 2005

Wendy's a Wizard of the Woods
She always, she always comes up with the goods.

"Mushrooms?" you ask. For her a small task
Mycorhyzal under the trees, she gets down on her hands and knees and digs up

What? What can it be?
A friendly fungus or a deadly enemy?

Amanita? Don't eat-a!
Russula emetica? To the bathroom this will get-a-ya
And beware a polka-dotted mushroom red
Lest a hallucinatory trip that you might dread

But here's something to think of that might be yummy
Just for the mind and not for the tummy

Oysters, turkey tails, eggs sunny-side-up
Witches butter on King Alfred's cakes - gobble them up
Milky caps and to finish this fungal meal funny
Cinnamon candy caps and mushrooms of honey

More mushroom uses. Please forgive these poetic abuses.

Is your nose shiny? Drives you up the wall?
To remedy - a powder puff ball
Is your nose runny? Giving you grief?
Blow hard in a cowboy's handkerchief

Dirty? Sweaty? Need a rub-a-dub-dub?
Wendy will find you a fairy bath tub

Lost in the woods in the middle of the night?
Try a scarlet cup or a Jack-o-lantern's strange light

Feeling creative? Don't hem and haw
On an artist's conk you soon can draw

Back aching? A cramp you can't dodge?
Fairy fingers will give you a magic massage

Yes the fungus among us bring us joy and delight
Thanks to Wendy and her mycological insight