The Fungus Knows

Pervading the dark and gloomy loam;
creeping tendrils seek contact
with the unknown, but not unknowable.
They grope about and sculpt the soil,
forming passageways 
between the trees;
fermenting slowly, freeing nitrogen
and phosphorous from inorganic chains -

to their alien neighbors, offering exchange
of substance for sustenance
warmth, and nourishment
lacing their roots, soothing their moods;
harsh circumstances circumvented
for the sapling supplicants
supported by severe, distant, but not unkind, unyielding kin.
The sly, sacred vows of mycelial brethren -
their unseen sins...

Buried beneath mountains, their skeletons remain,
the bioaccumulation of metals and minerals their literal literal veins of (y)ore...
How often Language knows the truth, before the talkers do.

De-composition; Anna-lysis; digesting the litter-ature of Nature;
poring over ev'ry word and frays ev'ry frame and domain 
with fervid, enzymatic patience.

Gnawledge.
Catalyzing growth;
under-standing,
sharing nuggets of wisdom
with their lignant hosts.
mulling evolution's plunder...
fur-mentation?
a fine bargain you've made there, 

Faust, I wonder,

was that cordyceps, or core deceptions, 
your careless hunger, poor reflection of fungal intentions;
or is it true?
zombiefiers climbin' higher, fractal, 
branch in veins, then brains
your no-longer-boring sporing
pouring forth
conceptions caught upon the sharpening winds honed by the chills of the North
feigned ignorance of the keys to other kingdoms, slip
casualties casually between sugarplum-fairy puffball-daemon schemin'
haunting plants, then insects, then mammals, then men, 
in their gleamin' borg dreams of Unity, 
all in service to one common being

You

see,
with your psychedelics coursing through me
teaching their fizz-domme
I hear them talking
is it true?

I see

chemical signaling, warfare, and deceit;
winds whispering their treasons through the leaves,
carrying that propyl ghandi propaganda. Extirpate it with terpene tantrums
their old and dead, to them abandoned.

Trees, son.