MYCELIAL FUNGI by Sue Edmonds
We look to space for other worlds
Know little of the maze beneath our feet
Where grow mycelial labyrinths
Connected and coordinated dwellers.
Their swarms of hyphal tips move endlessly
Through spaces in our soils as tubes of threads
Transport networks of rivers of cellular fluids
Finding chemicals, receiving carbohydrates.
A symbiotic mesh with plants which grow above
Where animals put food in their own bodies
Fungi put their bodies into foods
Shapeshifters moving through our soils.
Communicating with electrical impulses
Mycelium is polyphony in bodily form
Stitching the world into relationships
Avoiding obstacles and branching as needed.
While humans see ourselves as things
And leaders of our planet world
Like all life forms we are but processes
And fungi work our systems too.
They’ve been around for many million years
Were part of forming all of life on Earth
Their work is needed by us every single day
Without them life would quickly fade away.
