The forest above the ground is beautiful and clear,
but the forest underground is the apparatus here,
that holds the whole thing up and keeps the trees in conversation,
the underground community is the original foundation.
The underground community, roots and fungal web,
the underground community, at the flow and ebb,
of season and of drought and of the mineral supply,
the underground community is the reason trees do not die.
The single tree cut off from the network struggles where,
the connected tree has access to what the others share,
and the underground community is what the solitary lack,
the underground community is what brings the forest back.
I have been the single tree cut off from the web,
and I have been the node at the center of the ebb,
and flow of everything the network has to give,
the underground community is the only way to live.