Fungaiku
These ekphrastic poems are based on the fictional mushrooms of Fungi of the Far Realms by Alex R. Clements and Shuyi Zhang from The Melsonian Arts Council. Numbers indicate results of three six-sided dice.
111
woodland’s chaste repose
swollen with abducted warmth
tasting my own blood
112
fugitive dismay
under earth’s empurpled veins
pickled sovereigns sit
113
inchoate organ’s
refulgence, obfuscation’s
quietus ashes
114
whorled deserts bridge
antler-tipped peripheries
juniper’s last sprigs
115
latent germs of life?
emerald ichor fusillade’s
indignant retort
116
connoisseur’s repose
colossal pinewood altar’s
consecrated wine
121
teeming eremite
stitches turn abandoned sky,
enervated earth
122
sin’s untended bruise:
interposing purity,
everyday manure
123
concentric decay’s
turbid pullulation hides
overflowing cups
124
fathoms’ surfacing
diurnal antiquity:
muffled twilit dreams
125
crabapples employ
gargoyle pareidolia
against peckish ghosts
126
syntax-castaway,
rhizomatic autochthon’s
recidivism
131
fingerprints dimple
tendered generosity,
presaging revenge
132
nauseated gore
swaddles woodgrain-naked grooves,
curdled sloughage-meal
133
in broadleaf dapples
ol’ shroomster politely touts
mild poisonings past
134
sallow platformed flesh
overlaps in islands, snares
skimming-weary wings
135
footthick stool leg props
broadening apologies
over humble things
136
days buckle under
overweening shadow dews
folktales stalk the sun
141
empty pincushion
everything invisible
reasserts itself
142
errant thoughts’ snaring
unwelcome publicity’s
most effluent crown
143
surreptitious gifts
token humiliations
accumulate here
144
mucous veils unfurl
immiscibly from within
pain displaces sight
145
infected acres
accord with incandescent
suffocation’s spread
146
siphoned lifeblood stains
florid in moderation,
absconds for polestars
151
before forests’ green
snowfall from recumbent stars
painted wilds pink
152
momently unspoiled
(suspending pervasive swamp),
poisonous always
153
anciently molded
fungible dusts recapture
their tufted ruins
154
unconfiscated
slight attachments’ distant sum
clinging to refuse
155
pendant expanses
ballast the unsteadily
isolated trunk
156
civilization’s
illicit interstices
court visitations
161
calm regains the steppe
desolations continue
underneath the crown
162
sunray adsorption
dulcet tendrils rove the rocks
tender oranges
163
the woodland seasons,
palate-flensing ladder-climbs
hungry denizens
164
harlequin snowbanks
celebrate an ultimate
triumph over Spring
165
inkwell unopened
microcosmic latitudes
signify themselves
166
discontented cud
sallies from antechambered
domestication
211
cupped expectance gleams
hushed spectators stake the pale
contestants embrace
212
coquettish cascades’
coruscant catalepsis
cadences clockwork
213
paintbrush branches leach
spare recalcitrance, outline
immiscible rills
214
beaded plasm-shine
caps blood-dimpled wellsprings, stems
curiosity
215
unearthed long before
alighting labyrinthine
eulogies lie still
216
votive morsels peek
above the inundation
pre-consecrated
221
regorgent deadwood
peekingly outflares itself
resurrective stains
222
stoneweight tanglescape
follicle effigy left
telltale underhill
223
split-lip mock deathstroke
pallor ashes washable
bruises hereafter
224
wind-egg’s overcast
thaws on each meridian’s
limpid habitant
225
ingested outgrowth
becomingly familiar
budded company
226
rugose sour-cone
sallowfold moss grotto-mold
tensile modesty
231
pallbearers breathing
fairer decomposition
forward composure
232
hooded maidenhead’s
impassionate ablutions
pucker ingénues
233
onto lowsunk fogs
filaments of raindrop storm
from distant groundswells
234
purled cloak hem low-bows
picking-sweet along seasons
redemption of sins
235
ductile nostril-whiffs
snuffle sinusoidal dust’s
woodbine helices
236
propinquity is
realizing knothole weeps
backfill axehole crust
241
stygian bellows’
overcast hyperboles
out-syzygy pink
242
tragicomedies
of historiography:
death-caponata
243
rye entails the heap
ungrounded ambivalence
articulated
244
flotsam counterfeits
a-sail, the old scars open
unburied plunder
245
tinsel zests trade winds
for purchase, sounding tendril
abruptions return
246
whether raptors tread
tomorrow lightly hazards
green stakes on greensward
251
bouquets absented
measure remnant undisguised
doppelgänger gorse
252
harvest exemptions
barometric rubescents’
hedgerowed nicety
253
steady gurgles drown
unceasingly, expiring
porous lutulence
254
glass-hung cyprus eye
clandestine deposition
alternates askance
255
anniversary
glister-fruits from leafmold shucks
hidden paring rives
256
red-fin contusions
puzzle out unsalted air
with benthic distaste
261
fervid encounter’s
sympathetic redolence
singes afterwards
262
purple vitriol
fingerlings to better mouth
than disavowal
263
skyscape focuses
on foreshortened horizons
(reckoned in footfalls)
264
polyp-hedron rind
indicative of insides’
indelectation
265
confluence rescues
comestible stowaway
perpetually
266
thoracic heartspur
pinpointing satiety
with sourer hungers
311
lost morass’ pale
undercarriage, stratagems
triangulated
312
selenic gloaming
unweatherable figments
eventualize
313
furzes evidence
intergenerational
counterfluency
314
retreating fringes
still extruding apple-rind
from incertitude
315
incapacity
uncreasing furrowed margins
into emptiness
316
quicksilver mimics
metallurgic admixture’s
aureate tincture
321
yewey scaffolding
bolstered webwork residue
teeth’s and tongues’ reprieve
322
archivists digest
salutary palimpsests
collaterally
323
lamentless remains
alien posterity’s
little epitaph
324
gwimcey saboteurs
woven into crocuses
stiffen in the wind
325
diametric pole
from everywhere the nails grow
smaller with seasons
326
riverbank cast-offs
recapture their carapace
through its fissure-craw
331
patinated seep
opportune attendants blush
undue empathy
332
impacted deadfall
aftermath irruptions screw
lumens into space
333
just alacrity
abates, valor only grows
slowly on the vine
334
lies of emission
(fetor is my countersign):
apples into flesh
335
inverse acorn cap
vacantly concentrating
nectar from the bees
336
consubstantially
sacerdotal/saccharine
fanfare ambrosia
341
cloistered symmetry’s
periwinkle treacle-molds
abandoned unmade
342
heartwood nematode
alternates ultimatums
hearsays overpraise
343
beagle scrutiny
shunted into jubilance
tumbles over dunes
344
discreetly aloft
raindrops on the hummingbird’s
dayglow parasol
345
barely hovering
dewdrops over dragonflies’
rainbow umbrella
346
fractional totem
actualizations splay
unguessed euphony
351
artless scalding steeps
diffusing concentration
through monotony
352
ambassador’s crest
flagging which cannot belong
to anyone else
353
chrysalis hex tap
spigoting monstrosity
in docile ingots
354
windswept cape-cap wells
spangled with candescent veins
sessile counter-moons
355
co-conspirators:
boldly-guarded catacombs’
flowstone fluff-hoards loaf
356
hilltop semaphore
limbless daydream pantomime
indefinitely
361
proactive salvage
tentacles insinuate
refluxed barrow-dregs
362
fretful decanters’
shellac-plunging (fungible
mantles abducting)
363
ascending scales eat
stepwise golden negatives
further into reach
364
penetralia
inner defoliation
recrimination
365
wildflower copse
diminutive sunbeams wilt
everything but sound
366
scale-mail agonist’s
immutable, mnemonic
stationary quest
411
taffy-foot flaneur
exchanges anchor aspects,
sauntering aweigh
412
signposted groundworks
refurnish underpinnings
their indistinction
413
stoppered catchment holds
polyp-complement contents
inconsequential
414
drifting liaisons’
clandestine optimism
scuttling away
415
conifer wave-break
recission’s acerbity
cerulean stays
416
faith imbalances
infamous palliative’s
curative pallor
421
actual malaise
underlying overlays
untimely exposed
422
discarded elm leaves
quizzical droplet faces
the entire sky
423
unwoven fabric
inevitabilities’
gradient ascent
424
tucked velvet cushions
languid contamination’s
eldest professor
425
compunded withdrawal
reflexively imitates
outermost insights
426
constitutional
absentminded scuttlebutt
tracking altitudes
431
umami lingers
beyond appreciation
throughout groundwater
432
timber-lurker spoor
adrenaline and trunksleeve
counterfactuals
433
slit cuticle looms
(or whichever’s the inverse):
moon before the clouds
434
buckling sediment
swelters: perseveration’s
fastidious milk
435
liverwort shambles
undergird the overlord’s
perpendictory
436
collusion between
supernal benignities,
unconsciousnesses
441
over boulder-clefts
stepped desaturation juts
air between my toes
442
cobweb aesthetics:
aloof abhorrence contacts
strands abruptly gray
443
overdrawn, absent
fungimen: identical,
exigent outcasts
444
spectrum tassels vouch
radiant vicinities
shuttering themselves
445
prosaic backwoods
redacted punctuation
irrefutable
446
tacit avowal:
irreplaceability-
memorabilia
451
rot-bare marrow chalk:
every life-precipitate
decomposited
452
phantasmagoric
captivity / tedious
metabolism
453
oaken covenant
animal facsimiles
contriving decades
454
rhizomorph sigils
disguising connotation
with fortuity
455
orange litterfall
conflagration upstages
opalescent smut
456
scribbling over faults
distracted geology
hesitates across
461
infested layers
indexing bygone hardship,
forthcoming distaste
462
interfacing lawns’
orthopraxis-fugitives’
lilac catharsis
463
coming to the point,
unhappy performance’s
interchangeable
464
minuter hermits’
descending alternation,
sometime victimhood
465
elysian streams
beading through derelict bones
ineffable piss
466
chromatic scanlines’
effervescent puddle-foam
leavens ecstasy
511
unprepossessing
isolation’s aroma
entices repose
512
arrow heavenward,
idiosyncrasy strikes
with adjacency
513
stockpiled simile
waypoints solicit margins’
immediacy
514
pastel waterstone
bedlam acumination
perforates surmise
515
gastric janitor,
dysfunctional placenta,
oxbow bezoar
516
ashes obscuring
adoration’s exacting
immediacy
521
mute inclination
hazel wand cantilevers
milquetoast flatulence
522
lunar aspirant
operatives activate
next interregnum
523
butterfly candles
another downpour rescues
from efficacy
524
digressing commons
historiography scrawls
missives akimbo
525
after abjection
upstarts nosing color-space
eavesdrop gratitude
526
forest ministry
whetted propotiations’
midseason tension
531
velvet sustenance
indulges beneath disdain
miasma’s excise
532
assimilating
longstanding acquaintances
subliminally
533
straddling outreach
wasabi allegations
in potentia
534
solubility:
ruminant indulgences,
savorless landscape
535
inadequacies
extemporaneously
accommodated
536
gnashing obstructions
acoustically discloses
ambient distress
541
punctual headway
scrimshawing indulgent bones
with small verities
542
buckshit mentation
dilutions trickle downstream
stolidly grayscale
543
catacomb gewgaws
tabulating preambles
to abdication
544
twenty-eight-spotted
ravening consecrations’
godhead adjacence
545
woven reproachments:
defenseless inattention’s
already elapsed
546
benighted presence
concretely uncandescent
puddling hollows
551
noontide vagabond
coating the underside on
someone else’s shoes
552
paint-fleck kumquat fuzz
covetously vampires
lackluster decor
553
propinquity wends
strobing absentmindedness
across mountainsides
554
cloven to slivers
pivoting around the boss
holding together
555
brimming trisector
pigment repositories
raindrops piñata
556
alcove sediment
seasoning desolation,
populous darkness
561
inquiry balloons
quiescent autodidact’s
cerebral outburst
562
frictive asymptote
asphalt traction gravity
savors inertia
563
inaccessible
nestling inches underground
cannot uncoil
564
longitudinal
droplet accretion rebound
personality
565
pariah morning
wash me with the river-stones
placid whitewater
566
mountaintop seabed’s
desultory medusas,
hydra furniture
611
beyond discernment
autonomic usurper
counting seventeen
612
dorsal battlements’
reciprocal ambuscade,
broidered nursery
613
bittersweet spoonful
harrowing intensation
sharply attenuated
614
sepia patches
seasonable sanctity
breaks, unexpected
615
septennial stripes
cover other intervals
moiré overlap
616
play the page of cups
nugatory bacchanals
augur perfidy
621
philanthropical
pissoir-hatch confessional
dolloping largesse
622
obdurate lignin
relaxes concentration
putrefying thoughts
623
littlest thunderhead
galvanic immunity
incapacitates
624
heuristic glosses
ostentation camouflage
divulges absence
625
inviscid splashes
recolor overlapping
iridescent paths
626
cloud quartet grounding
further dissatisfactions
moistened lullabies
631
blustery nuance
unstinting podunk shindig
decocts ambrosia
632
placid gravitas
occulted-conclave soirees
distilling ichor
633
rowan-ingested
inefficacious echoes
ensorcelled compost
634
moulder-vestiges
porcelain stratigraphy
(everything is teeth)
635
glimmer silhouette
castoffs short-handed gleaners
fasten to themselves
636
pause beside tree trunks
corridors already tried
disclosing nothing
641
reliquary crumbs
enjoying particulate
immortality
642
uninventoried:
ostentatious-abstention
inordinacy
643
gullying around
topological-pinwheel
mereology
644
magenta touchstones
obliviate, monochrome
ambiance fountains
645
feculent bog dregs
burgeoning lotus florets
unbiased fungus
646
garnished subsistence
dispensable oblations
reciprocated
651
tonic recursion
swallowing incarnations
into eschewal
652
oblique approaches
affrictive coarsening licks
precise scimit’ry
653
suffocations reach
neglected homestead ashes
tardily often
654
follicle quotient
willows guage vitality
scraggily squozen
655
pressing conundrum
quagmire simulacrum
apothem outflow
656
stoppered enchantment
poised atop the conic stool
of disillusion
661
curt exhalation
hurtling meadowlands under
diaspora trails
662
forgotten garlic
unvarnished-lumber-plated
ungulate hors d’oeuvre
663
outline empathy
ontogenic analogue
earthquake’s ultrasound
664
disparate tipoffs
punctuate arrhythmia
daybreak unwinding
665
helmets intertwine
hirsute bulwark tinderbox
filament arrays
666
impressive diction
recitation negatives
poem residue