Mycopoetry by Max Stephan

These clever and thoughtful poems weave science, history, and personal narrative into a rich and lyrical fabric.  There’s humor to be found, too, as Stephan plays with the found names of these little co-inhabitants of our world. What’s most remarkable is how many of these fungal poems set up a resonance with our own patterns of living and dying, a resonance that has me re-seeing everyday life as if I were an alien in a new world. Such accomplishment is worthy of the highest praise.

 –Marc Harshman, Poet Laureate of West Virginia, author of Woman in Red Anorak, winner of the Lynx House Prize for Poetry

The first collection of its kind, Mycopoetry: A Synthesis of Mycology and Poetry is a vibrant celebration of mushrooms, molds, lichens, yeasts and the wide-ranging places where these unique organisms live and thrive, in natural settings but also fully amongst us all. Stephan is a poet-scientist with a deep passion and a truly artful ability to dramatize how the realm of mycology “is boundless.” As such, he guides us to see, for instance, how mycelium spread as delicate networks under forest floors. But his vision also widens out in expanding arcs, where mushrooms and lichens connect human experiences across vast landscapes, from the Alaskan prairies to Brooklyn, from the backwoods to every person’s body. For Stephan, science and poetry coexist in richly overlapping worlds whose bonds are best expressed as revelations about how we make life meaningful. An accomplished poet and natural storyteller, Stephan brings into focus a dynamic world of wonder in this vital and unique collection of poems.

–Donald J. McNutt, Editor, Blueline Magazine

Mycopoetry: A Synthesis of Mycology and Poetry is an example of how mushrooms can inspire not just scientists and mycophagists, but artists as well.

–Eugenia Bone, author of six books, including the critically acclaimed Mycophilia

Stephan has taken me into the heart of a living thing that I had no heart.

–Christine Woodside, Editor, Appalachia