{"id":1406,"date":"2020-12-11T17:35:25","date_gmt":"2020-12-11T17:35:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/pk\/poetryforall\/?page_id=1406"},"modified":"2020-12-11T20:15:52","modified_gmt":"2020-12-11T20:15:52","slug":"1406-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/pk\/poetryforall\/i-want-to-be\/1406-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Chestnut Mushroom"},"content":{"rendered":"<blockquote><p>Chestnut mushroom by Emma Allardyce<br \/>\n(After Selima Hill)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>I want to be a chestnut mushroom,<br \/>\nand not my mothers keeper.<br \/>\nI want to regrow when I get stood on<br \/>\nand blended with the earth<br \/>\nI stand in.<\/p>\n<p>To be picked and enjoyed in a risotto,<br \/>\nTo be useful without ever tiring,<br \/>\nTo fertilise my ground, clearing<br \/>\nthe death and dark sludge my roots draw from,<br \/>\nOnly for no one to notice.<\/p>\n<p>Chestnut mushrooms aren\u2019t worried for.<br \/>\nThey are adequate.<br \/>\nThey can\u2019t get things wrong<br \/>\nor falter<br \/>\nfrom the weight on their shoulders.<\/p>\n<p>Mushrooms don\u2019t have shoulders.<\/p>\n<p>No hands to shake<br \/>\nNo knees to wobble<br \/>\nNo eyes to well up like the morning rain<br \/>\nNo smoking mind with 14 warning lights on<br \/>\none speed bump from complete combustion.<\/p>\n<p>Mushrooms don\u2019t have to suck in<br \/>\nto a skirt a size too small,<br \/>\nMushrooms don\u2019t have to face their own<br \/>\nugliness,<br \/>\nThey can\u2019t feel the air leave a room<br \/>\nevery time anyone asks how it is<br \/>\nbecause no one asks mushrooms<br \/>\nhow they are.<\/p>\n<p>I don\u2019t want pity,<br \/>\nI want the precious veil,<br \/>\nprotecting my spores,<br \/>\nto remain intact,<br \/>\nSo I may continue to be,<br \/>\nthe chestnut mushroom that everyone needs,<br \/>\nBut nobody cares about.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Chestnut mushroom by Emma Allardyce (After Selima Hill) I want to be a chestnut mushroom, and not my mothers keeper. I want to regrow when I get stood on and blended with the earth I stand in. To be picked and enjoyed in a risotto, To be useful without ever tiring, To fertilise my ground, &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/pk\/poetryforall\/i-want-to-be\/1406-2\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Chestnut Mushroom<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7585,"featured_media":0,"parent":1271,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1406","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/pk\/poetryforall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1406","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/pk\/poetryforall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/pk\/poetryforall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/pk\/poetryforall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7585"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/pk\/poetryforall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1406"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/pk\/poetryforall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1406\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1413,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/pk\/poetryforall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1406\/revisions\/1413"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/pk\/poetryforall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/pk\/poetryforall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}