The Mycologist Consents

A moose will bloody its nose in pumice

to sniff out mushrooms.

Those antlers! Palmate, generous,

my Lagotto Romagnolo

has turned up only millipedes lately.

Prototaxites could grow to eight metres tall,

current opinion is the genus was fungal.

That’s how you become the dominant species

for over forty-million years.

Are you concerned by the presence

of carnivorous ungulates in the fossil record?

“Wolves on hooves,” no thank you,

horses are terrifying enough.

They break each other’s legs out of flippancy,

I’ve seen them.

A truffle hound can lead you to the spores.

A truffle hog may be more effective,

but you will need a leash.

“Animals put food into their bodies,

fungi put their bodies into food,”

to which kingdom do you allot me?

Claudia Jardine is a Huntaway enthusiast. She juggles several arts-adjacent jobs in Ōtautahi and is working on her first full-length manuscript of poetry. Her chapbook, 'The Temple of Your Girl,' was published in AUP New Poets 7 (2020). Nicely demand a copy from your local bookseller.