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    Lester Smith works days as a writer & technologist for Sebranek Inc., an educational publisher in Wisconsin. In his spare time, he designs games, writes poetry & fiction, codes Web stuff, publishes other writers via Popcorn Press, & dreams of being the first Android Poet Laureate of Mars.

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    Reflections on the Life Cycle of a Common Fungus

    By Lester | April 22, 2009

    You’ve seen it on a windowpane, up high,
    near the top, a fly, dead and desiccate,
    around its abdomen a foggy spray
    upon the glass. Entomophthora muscae   

    begins life as a single spore. It lights
    upon a housefly’s back, erupts
    in thready filaments, searching for gaps
    in the exoskeleton. Once inside,

    it travels to the brain, impels the fly
    to land and clamber upward, then digests
    the insect’s innards. In the end, it bursts
    free—a spray of spores seeking new lives.

    I wonder what your thoughts must be to find
    this knowledge taking root within your mind.
     
     
    (Originally appeared in Woud You Dance?)

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    Topics: Sample Poems | 1 Comment »

    One Response to “Reflections on the Life Cycle of a Common Fungus”

    1. Dave Schuey Says:
      April 23rd, 2009 at 6:24 am

      I love spores, molds and fungus. Some of them are so insidious, and their whole life cycle is just fascinating.

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