Every thrill when it happens is just like the first, <br />like finding a mushroom that grows in the wild; <br />before you can seize it, examine it first, <br />or else by the danger you may be defiled. <br />Seeking risks is the reason men jump with a bungee <br />and fall from the heights to the depths of a chasm, <br />like the risk that they take when eating wild fungi, <br />or having wild sex for the sake of orgasm. <br /> <br />Go search for the chanterelles buried in moss, <br />and the silky smooth oysters that grow on dead trees, <br />don’t dwell on the danger and fear for the loss <br />that is caused by the fungi that cause dread disease, <br />but learn to distinguish the dread jack o’lanterns <br />that glow in the darkness an evil green yellow <br />so fantasies will not escape you like phantoms, <br />being thrilled one again, once again being mellow. <br /> <br /> <br />Peter Hellman writes about a hunt in a wooded area of Westchester County for morels, chanterelles, king boletes and oysters ('Hunting for Something Wild? The Fun of Fungi, ' the NYT, July 9,1999) . He warns of the dangers of the destroying angel (Amanita virosa) and jack o'lanterns, and concludes: <br /> <br />Up a slope to the right of a trail was a 100-foot-long fallen tree. It was covered with silky-smooth pyster mushrooms. We filled our shopping bags with them and left behind still more. <br /> <br />'What a thrill that was for me, ' I told Ms. Hayes as we waited for the train back to New York. <br /> <br />'For me, too, ' said Ms. Hayes, a former president of the mushroom club. <br /> <br />'But this was my first time, ' I pointed out. <br /> <br />In what could be the club's credo, she replied: 'For me, every time is a thrill like the first time.' <br /> <br />7/9/99<br /><br />gershon hepner<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/thrill-like-the-first/
