Earthstars fall.

Remind me a little
of polystyrene or an egg box.

Disenchanted I Star Wars child
looking down on a space station,
a puff of magician’s smoke.

I am lost amongst the spores.

Neither mouse nor mycologist
I am back on the stage again.

I am back in my cage feeling
the muscles under my skin.

I am pulling splinters from my palm.

I am becoming a religious mystic,
reminded of the privilege of being here
in this damp woodland in spite of being
fallen, fallen, fallen, like these stars

from the Star of the King of Annwn.

*This poem is based on my first sighting of collared earthstars (Geastrum triplex) at Fishwick Bottoms Nature Reserve in Preston.