Thrill Like The First Poem by gershon hepner

Every thrill when it happens is just like the first,
like finding a mushroom that grows in the wild;
before you can seize it, examine it first,
or else by the danger you may be defiled.
Seeking risks is the reason men jump with a bungee
and fall from the heights to the depths of a chasm,
like the risk that they take when eating wild fungi,
or having wild sex for the sake of orgasm.

Go search for the chanterelles buried in moss,
and the silky smooth oysters that grow on dead trees,
don’t dwell on the danger and fear for the loss
that is caused by the fungi that cause dread disease,
but learn to distinguish the dread jack o’lanterns
that glow in the darkness an evil green yellow
so fantasies will not escape you like phantoms,
being thrilled one again, once again being mellow.


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:

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.

'What a thrill that was for me, ' I told Ms. Hayes as we waited for the train back to New York.

'For me, too, ' said Ms. Hayes, a former president of the mushroom club.

'But this was my first time, ' I pointed out.

In what could be the club's credo, she replied: 'For me, every time is a thrill like the first time.'

7/9/99