Ghost Pipe

To be a Flower is a profound Responsibility ~ Emily Dickinson

I met a ghost today.

She was luminescent 
and dreamy white -- 
shimmering within the bright heart 
of all that’s offered 
on a perfect summer morning.

On any other day 
she might have remained unseen; 
a phantom obscured and unknown --
yet she glowed with a purity of lack 
that I wished was mine; 
content in effortless radiance
that could have been phosphorescent
if she’d cared to absorb the light.

And now, 
even as I write these words, 
the summer is slipping away 
and she is becoming memory; 
passing and fading 
from me,
a wondering wandering child.

---

.

Recently, in Chelsea Quebec, I found a strange ethereal plant growing very near the front door of the cottage where I was staying. Other than white, she had no colour whatsoever and at first I thought she was a type of mushroom. My smartphone informed me it was a ghost pipe which I’d first learned about from my friend and herbalist, Amber Westfall of The Wild Garden. 

She was such a mysterious and enchanting being, I visited her often over the next few days, and watched her reach her prime and then begin to darken.

The beautiful illustration and field notes by Laurie Foster above provide more details about this fascinating plant that contains absolutely no chlorophyll. It is not a lighteater, instead it finds sustenance by working with the mycelium to obtain its nutrition from surrounding plants. Its primary purpose in coming above ground is to send up a flower that that is pollinated by insects and so allows the plant to propagate.

The quote at the beginning comes from Emily Dickenson’s poem Bloom—is Result—to meet a Flower. You can read more about her relationship with ghost pipe here.

Music pairing: Ghost Pipe by Magic Tuber Stringband

Image credits Diane Perazzo
Drawing and field notes: Laurie Foster, Ottawa Ontario