Climate Change Poem 22

Mushroom, July 2011

Two global events are occurring on September 24, 2011:

1. Moving Planet, a worldwide rally to demand solutions to the climate crisis.


2. 100 Thousand Poets for Change, a demonstration/celebration of poetry to promote serious social, environmental, and political change.


I thought: Why not do both?

Barring an emergency, I am posting from midnight to midnight, one poem per hour (at any time during that hour). That's starting from 00:00-01:00 and ending at 23:00-24:00 Eastern Time today.

All the poems are sonnets. Each takes its cue from an article dealing with climate change. The articles had been posted beginning on September 15 -- the date of the 24-hour Climate Reality Project that inspired me to do this -- to September 19, the day I drafted the twenty-fourth poem.

The poem for Hour 22 takes its cue from "Common fungi spreading as climate changes" (Richard Gray, The Telegraph, Sept. 18, 2011).

Notes from the Underground

The British forests hold a mystery,
As once restricted fungi farther spread.
A mushroom might have joined a single tree,
But now likes several types of wood instead.

The jelly ear has started to expand
Its taste past elder branches, and is found
On twenty added plants throughout the land.
And elsewhere, under mulch against the ground,

The butter cap has switched from oak to beech.
The chanterelle has moved from beech to birch.
Fly agaric as well extends its reach.
Does changing climate make those fungi search

Beyond established boundaries of old?
Their doubled growing season breaks the mold.

Audio (1:12):

Part of the Solution website (chosen at random)
Greenpeace
Elissa Malcohn's Deviations and Other JourneysPromote Your Page Too Vol. 1, Deviations: Covenant (2nd Ed.), Vol. 2, Deviations: Appetite, Vol. 3, Deviations: Destiny, Vol. 4, Deviations: Bloodlines, Vol. 5, Deviations: TelZodo, Vol. 6 and conclusion: Deviations: Second Covenant.Free downloads at the Deviations website (click here for alternate link), Smashwords, and Manybooks.

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