To Be a Mushroom by Emma Renn

            I want to be like a mushroom, to communicate to others across bodies[1]. Not mind-reading per se, but I want to be like a mushroom. Tough, an acquired taste, something that takes a little bit of work. Maybe a little poisonous to some, or maybe poisonous in just some forms. I want to be like a mushroom and be centuries old with all the wisdom and language and power that comes with it. I want to be unstoppable, uncroppable, un-something-or-another-able. I want to be powerful.

             People question if how they communicate is language[2], but that means defining something according to human terms and the confines of linguistics. These communications mimicking language speak to something beyond carnal, an electrical signal[3]—like the synapses in our brains. Beyond the caricature of human as superior, of nature as something to dominative, cultivate, and force assimilation. I want to be like a mushroom, and though I struggle with the taste and texture (maybe inherited from my mother), I want to have that intangible power to create something that is ours, not that it belongs to us, but that in our relationship, we form a bond of ours. Where instead of being separate, our roots nestle together, finding the space in between, we protect the young, the slightly deformed, and welcome harvest season. Because we are not inherently separate, though the myth prevails that we are, community ends up on top, and I yearn for my kindred spirits here

             I want to be like a mushroom, where my body no longer carries this invisible weight – or maybe that’s just gravity. I want to be separate from the form I am in, and find my spirit as something different, as something found. Maybe I don’t want to be a mushroom at all, maybe I just want to be recognized by those around me, fitting into the spaces so that our homes intertwine, our bodies safe as well as our minds. I want to be found in a community that talks to one another and sustains the life of every one and every bit of nature. I want to be like a mushroom in that I live in harmony with the nature around me. But for now, I’ll settle into a little life of cultivating the kindred spirits around me, and once in a while, when the electrical signals fire in my brain, I’ll find some bit of nature worth holding onto.

 

[1] Mesa, N. (2022). Can mushrooms ‘talk’ to each other? The Scientist. https://www.the-scientist.com/can-mushrooms-talk-to-each-other-69885

[2] Mesa (2022).

[3] Mesa (2022).