October, Week 41
MUSHROOMS
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Flamboyant fruiting bodies tip of the mycelium iceberg no mere molds, these aromatic blisters amanita, sheephead, inky cap stumper, shaggy mane, earth star truffle, birds' nest, golden-cap chanterelle, puffball, morel russula, stinkhorn, boletus spores like smoke, or steam slimy, spongy, sticky, leathery fanciful fungi that appear so quickly and sporadically and then melt or shrivel |
October, Week 42
STRANGE ANIMALS
living secret lives
in hidden places
underground, under rocks, underwater
fascinatingly bizarre
perplexing in taxonomy
obvious in beauty
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border, top clockwise: amphioxus (lancelet), caecilian (an amphibian), bristleworm, hemichordate (acorn worm) corners, left top clockwise: barnacles, tunicates (sea squirts), brachiopods, nudibranchs (sea slugs) center, top clockwise: mantis shrimp, ctenophore, arrowworm, scaled worm and leech |
October, Week 43
MICROSCOPIC LIFE
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Bizarre animalcules with whimsical names dinoflagellate, radiolarian bacterium, microbe amoeba, rotifer germ, volvox stentor, euglena protozoan, ciliate vorticella, infusorian foraminiferan, paramecium everywhere, but unseen within familiar surroundings an invisible universe |
October, Week 44
HALLOWEEN
about death, evil and fear
gloomy, mysterious, eerie
pumpkins, bones, magic
ghosts, ghouls, goblins
masquerades, deception, illusion, trickery
spiders, worms, witches, owls
mist, shadows, obscure shufflings
screams, howls, whimperings
bats, cats, rats
gnomes, trolls, ogres, imps
slime, blood, ooze
banshees, werewolves, devils, vampires
demons, zombies, monsters
scary stuff
November, Week 45
SCORPIO (The Scorpion)
an ancient arthropod orgy
modern eurypterids
slowly amble and waltz and glide
a chitinous embrace
warily restraining
deadly claws
November, Week 46
ECHINODERMS
pentamerous radial symmetry
elliptical, cylindrical, orbicular
radically rigid geometric arrangements
of spines, tentacles
plates, tube feet, pedicellariae
and serpentine chain-mail appendages
stalked flowers, pin cushions
armored globes, feather dusters
a slow-moving galaxy of
star animals
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top, left to right: brittlestar, sea urchin, starfish, basketstar, starfish center, left to right: sunstar, crinoid, sea urchin bottom, left to right: sea cucumber, sand dollar, sea urchin, sea urchin, featherstar |