Fly Agaric !

Ceiling Toadstools in Porcelan by Carsten Höller

But fly agaric, not so fast.
I think that you misunderstand –
I spoke your name, but not command;
as ‘hang in there’ is your reply,
with hint of magic mushroom speak,
I’m keeping my feet on the ground.

It cost me, sixties, £sd,
those flights of fancy, Kubla Khan,
my extraterrestrial mind,
as psychedelic orbits found
around my skull within my head
before black holes became the norm.

Above your bulb, though underneath,
in ceiling sunk, mycelium;
I root my worldview, gravity.
These humans stand too stable here
to be space station sentinels
afloat, as upside down, in fact.

I doubt those floor lights might be fans;
more likely planned exhibit scams.
But few harms done by second look,
another scan, fresh point of view,
in changed perspective, new field probed.
That is a rôle of poetry.

Prompt from a “Poets with Parkinson’s” workshop on Ekphrasis…

Posted on The Wall, Poets with Parkinson’s, 22nd April 2024

https://www.poetswall.com/post/fly-agaric

Published by Stephen Kingsnorth

My name is Stephen Kingsnorth. I am 70 and retired from ministry in the Methodist Church, living in north Wales. Like so many, I have been a nominee for the The Pushcart Prize & Best of the Net. To retain appearance on my blog https://poetrykingsnorth.wordpress.com/ a piece must be accepted by a publisher and/or ‘liked’ by a reader. I have had pieces accepted by 80+ publishers, for publication online by Nine Muses Poetry, Voices Poetry, Eunoia Review (Singapore), Runcible Spoon, Ink Sweat and Tears, The Poetry Village, Amethyst Review, Softblow Literary Journal (Singapore), From the Edge, Soul-Lit (USA), Sparks of Calliope (USA), Academy of the Heart and Mind (USA), Allegro, Ekphrastic Review (Canada), The Recusant, Militant Thistles (Scotland), Visual Verse, Another North, Literary Yard (India), Poetry Potion (South Africa), Former People Journal (USA), Poetry Space, Clavmag, Twisted Vine Literary Journal (USA), Indolent Books (USA), The Writers' Café, A New Ulster Literary Journal, Love-Wrexham Magazine, Lighten Up Online, Young Ravens Literary Review (USA), Here Comes Everyone Magazine, Compass Photography, Parkinson's Art, Writing Sparks (Australia), Passager Books (USA), Foxglove Journal, Featured Poets (USA), The Quiver (USA), Unique Poetry (USA), Ariel Chart International Literary Journal (Australia), Grand Little Things (USA), Crȇpe & Penn Quarterly (USA); Spillwords (USA), Poetrywivenhoe, The Poet Magazine, Setu Bilingual Journal (USA & India), Hencroft Hub, Mad Swirl (USA), Medusa's Kitchen (USA), Stone Literary Journal (USA), Zero Readers (USA), Groupie Mag (USA), New Note Poetry Magazine, The Gentian Journal, The Garfield Lake Review, The Whisky Blot, Piker Press, Five Fleas Itchy Poetry, The Hallowzine, Boats Against the Current, Solid Food Press, Green Ink Poetry, Fevers of the Mind, The Wombwell Rainbow, The Pierian, A Day's Encounter, Oddball Magazine; Clepsydra Literary and Arts Magazine, The Seraphic Review; and print poetry magazines Gold Dust, The Seventh Quarry, Indigo Dreams Publishing: The Dawntreader, Voices for the Silent; Foxtrot Uniform, New Contrasts (South Africa), Vita Brevis' Anthology 'Pain and Renewal', Fly on the Wall Press 'Identity', Word Poppy Press, 'Sequoia Speaks' (USA), Milk & Cake Press: 'Dead of Winter II', The Anansi Archive, Fresh Words International Literary Magazine, Green Ink: 'Bark and Blossom', 'Trespass', 'Forage', 'Enclosure', Daylightzine, The Pierian, Dadakuku, Sweetycat Press, 'Around the World: Landscapes & Cityscapes Anthology', 'Love Anthology', 'Stories & Poems in the Song of Life Anthology', 'Beautiful: In the Eye of the Beholder Anthology', 'Movement - Our Bodies in Action', 'Zooanthology', 'The Gift' (USA), The Poet Magazine's 'Friends and Friendship', 'Adversity', 'Cultural Identity', 'Poetry for Ukraine', 'Family', Thema, The Writer's Workout (WayWords & Tales of the Strange),The Parliament Literary Journal's 'Truth Serum', 'Cravings & Compulsions', 'A Toast for the Scumbags', 'Masks & Manes', 'Mania', 'Liars', 'All Stars', 'Ecstasy and Despair', 'Mortality', Lothlorien Literary Journal, 'Windmills in the Mind', 'Roads to Serendipity', 'Nighthawk Shadows' etc, Parkinson's Art 'Out of the Blue'; Parkinson's UK billboard campaign 2023.

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