WHAT THE MYCOPHILE WAS DOING WHILE ADAM AND EVE WERE EATING THE APPLE
Sierra Gonzalez


searching compassless
in the rot of tree trunks
seeking answers
as if ignorance panged the
inner walls of the stomach
instead of hunger
as if grubs and worms
were answers

mycophiles live like this
fingers in detritus
wrist-deep in leaf litter
looking for the fruits of death

like mycorrhizae in the humus:
ever-posthumous poem(s)
process theology in the symbiosis
always created; always creating

teach us not to dichotomize—
there is no plant and fungus
no life and death
no creation and revelation
no god and man
no you and me
               there is only everything

searching compassless
in the rot of tree trunks
as if loneliness panged
the inner walls of the stomach
instead of hunger
as if divinity and togetherness
were grubs and wormsdraft 5

A Cabrera's poetry, fiction and essays have appeared in The New Guard, Brain,Child Magazine, Colere, Acentos Review, The Berkeley Fiction Review, Best Travelers' Tales 2021 Anthology, Mer, Deronda, and other journals. Her short fiction has been nominated for a Pushcart Award and adapted for stage by the Bay Area Word for Word Theater Company. She writes, teaches, dances and ride bikes in San Francisco, but not always in that order.

Sierra Gonzalez is a midwestern-southerner trapped in New England. They have their M.A. in Religion from Yale Divinity School, which accounts for the struggle with religion often found in their poetry. They like to crochet, make friendship bracelets, and go on Wikipedia rabbit holes.


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