HYPHAETRY - Mycelium poetry

I host workshops in collective mycelium poetry. Everyone writes together on one big paper or piece of fabric.

We humans can learn from the wisdom of fungi in many ways. We invite you to try to think like them, by writing like them. Let sentences and meaning branch, fuse and shape networks. The network that many fungi form is called mycelium, and consists of many white threads (hyphae). The mycelium spreads underground and connects plants and other fungi with each other in vast networks. Follow the principles of fungal writing and see what emerges.

Start with a spore or two landing on the paper, they are words to start everything. You can start in more than one place.

MYCELIUM PRINCIPLES FOR WRITING:

• Branch: Let sentences and meaning branch out in different directions.

• Fuse: To become a network, it is not enough to branch out, the sentences must also find each other and merge again.

• Explore: Mycelium is curiously searching in its surroundings for food, friends, prey, information - and poetry? Just try and be open to your ideas.

• Connect and collaborate: Mycelium is never alone. Mycelium are many who from different directions seek to connect with each other - both in text and form. That is why we write many together. We connect meanings. Read the text out loud once in a while and then continue.

• Decompose: Go against what is written. Mycelium breaks down and challenges our own ideas and truths. Let the text and content of the text take a different turn than expected. Surprise yourself. Mycelium eats its own center and ego. Attack yourself. Perhaps you can also challenge the mycelial principles.