"The Wild Mushroom" was included in Mr. Snyder's 1974 Pulitzer Prize-winning volume of poetry, Turtle Island, and we believe it reflects both his Buddhist spirituality and his love of nature.
In an essay published in A Controversy of Poets, an anthology of contemporary American poetry, Mr. Snyder offered this commentary on his art:
As a poet, I hold the most archaic values on earth. They go back to the late Paleolithic: the fertility of the soil, the magic of animals, the power-vision in solitude, the terrifying initiation and rebirth; the love and ecstasy of the dance, the common work of the tribe. I try to hold both history and wilderness in mind, that my poems may approach the true measure of things and stand against the unbalance and ignorance of our times.
I'm convinced that we mushroomers embrace Gary Snyder's values and hold them as truths in our own lives. Wouldn't you agree?
Well the sunset rays are shining
Me and Kaihave got our tools
A basket and a trowel
And a book with all the rules
Don't ever eat Boletus
If the tube mouths they are red
Stay away from the Amanitas
Or brother you are dead
Sometimes they're already rotten
Or the stalks are broken off
Where the deer have knocked them over
While turing up the duff
We set out in the forest
To seek the wild mushroom
In shapes diverse and colorful
Shining through the woodland gloom
If you look under oak trees
Or around an old pine stump
You'll know a mushroom's coming
By the way the leaves are humped
They send out multiple fibers
Through the roots and sod
Some make you mighty sick they say
Or bring you close to God
So here's to the mushroom family
A far-flung friendly clan
For food, for fun, for poison
They are a help to man.