sally burnette
selected edible mushrooms of north carolina
i. indigo lactarius
the blue milk
tattoos my skin
as the fleshy cap detonates
between my thighs
like a dye pack
ii. beefsteak polypore
see that sunburned liver
frisbeed into a chestnut trunk
cup the pale underneath
tough thawing tongue
sour pink cocaine
scrub your gums with the spores
excise the organ using both hands
wring out the blood
iii. fragrant chanterelle
the waxy cluster
of radioactive cornflakes
sits on the cutting board untouched
my grandmother says
gotta eat em while they’re fresh & young
the older they get the worse they taste
i tuck the biggest one behind my ear
& admire my reflection in a paring knife
iv. chicken of the woods
at first these gill-less shelves
look like a melted creamsicle
mangled in its wrapper
but i hear with the right seasoning
it tastes just like bojangles’
v. black trumpet
when you die i’ll dig a cylindrical hole
& slip you down it
like a piece of chalk
into a soil test tube
i’ll tilt your head up
& cover it with moss & a prayer
written on a beech leaf
& it’ll rain goat’s milk all afternoon
by late summer
you’ll be buzzing away
until i return
to harvest your instruments
vi. witches’ butter
when i die put my ashes
in a mountain dew can
& bury it with a wet pine log
under the waning moon
the first day you don’t think about me
i’ll cover your door with my jelly spell
& you’ll stab me with straight pins
til i’ve leaked all my juices
my fruiting body rots
vii. lion’s mane
white & droopy
saprophytic
yeah
that’s how i like it
soak it in vinegar
pull it like pork
extract the beard-teeth
one by one & repeat after me:
i am loved
i am not
sally burnette is the author of the chapbooks laughing plastic (Broken Sleep Books) and Special Ultimate: Baby’s Story: a Documentary (Ghost City Press). They are originally from North Carolina but currently live in Boston and read flash fiction for Split Lip Magazine. Say hi via Twitter or their website.
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