anti-anxiety medication and gum-numbing injection
rainwater that softens the soil
makes it easy to pull up the mushrooms
planted in the wrong place like a cyst or tumour
tubers stuck in the earth cradled by muscles and blood vessels
a vice clamps tightly and securely around the cream-white bud
white button mushroom mycelium systems like nerves spreading through the underground
threading together like a subterranean quilt
released full of dirt dripping with blood
a tiny nodule of calcium and enamel to be placed gently on a metal tray
to be kept or thrown away
Featured photo by Andrew Ridley on Unsplash.