BY KATIE MANNING
after Doug Peltz
My sons learn from a mystery science video
that poisonous mushrooms look the same
as edible mushrooms to the untrained eye,
destroying angels passing for white buttons.
Other mushrooms merely look poisonous
—morels could pass for shriveled brains—
and are the most delicious.
“But how can we
know?” my sons ask.
“We eat mushrooms
from the grocery store. Don’t ever eat any
mushrooms that you find outside unless
you become a mushroom expert.”
“But
aren’t you a mushroom expert?” my youngest
wants to know.
“No, I have to trust the people
who are experts to keep me safe.”
“But why
are some mushrooms poisonous?” my oldest
asks.
“Probably to keep us from eating them,”
I say, “but if I’d created the world, I would’ve
made the poisonous things ugly and easy
to avoid.” I don’t even think to say, I never
would have created anything poisonous.
Katie Manning is the founding editor-in-chief of Whale Road Review and a professor of writing at Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego. She is the author of Tasty Other, which won the 2016 Main Street Rag Poetry Book Award, and her fifth chapbook, 28,065 Nights, is newly available from River Glass Books. Her poems have appeared in Glass, The Lascaux Review, Stirring, THRUSH, Verse Daily, and many other venues. Find her online at www.katiemanningpoet.com.