Because their name is a visual metaphor,
because they camouflage the forest floor,
because black is really brown or mauve, because
I have to take a car and a boat
and then walk with my cousin to find them,
because we come from a line of foragers,
because they have the sweet, deep flavor of the earth,
because my cousin’s mushroom radar is fine-tuned,
because his nimble fingers,
because my sunglasses don’t distinguish field from foreground,
because we saw the snake we didn’t know how to name,
you can also cook them dried,
they go with well with garlic and eggs,
I would eat them for dessert.
Because there is no currency with higher value,
I feel rich with a full, pungent sack,
although the ones I gather, mostly, are shriveled and dark.
Copyright 2015, Carla Schwartz
Carla Schwartz is a poet, filmmaker, photographer, and lyricist. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Fulcrum, Common Ground Review, Cactus Heart, and Wordgathering, among others. Her book, Mother, One More Thing (2014) is available through Turning Point Books. Her youtube videos have had hundreds of thousands of views. She has performed and read her work in the U.S., Canada, and Australia. Carla is also a professional writer with a doctorate from Princeton University. Learn more at carlapoet.com.