I get my strength from symbiosis with the roots of trees, decay feeds my veins and my limbs spread as mycorrhiza. I infiltrate,I penetrate. I am your most beloved parasite.
But you my dear are different, my power to infect is futile, you are too sweet to lure into my fungi life I can never see you rot.
I watch you from afar, I want you to be safe but still my dark blood hungers to be close, I desire your flesh and I mask my venomous breath to be pretty for you.
I have dropped two seeds of turnsole in the dark of both eyes in the hope that such bogus affection to light lures you inside my cancerous reach.
So when the moon has waned to a sickle, I can gently wrap my tentacles around your beating heart to devour you.
Frida Kahlo
Today Sanaa hosts dVerse Prosery were we are to embed the line: “To be pretty for you I have dropped two seeds of turnsole in the dark of both eyes.” from the poem “Garden.” by Isabel Duarte-Gray. I have used 144 words in this dark story of parasitic passion.
September 11, 2023
Björn Rudbergs writings 
Wow! I love the parasitic desire you discovered in the prompt line, Björn! This time I went a bit Lady Chatterley, but your dark story and the Frida Kahlo image did the trick for me. I especially love: ‘decay feeds my veins and my limbs spread as mycorrhiza. I infiltrate, I penetrate. I am your most beloved parasite.’
I saw Lady Chatterley immediately 🙂 very cool I thought.
This is deliciously dark and potent, Bjorn! I love how seamlessly the line by Duarte fits in! Especially resonate with; “I watch you from afar, I want you to be safe but still my dark blood hungers to be close.” Thank you so much for writing to the prompt 💙💙
This one begged me for darkness… such potency in sucb line.
“such bogus affection to light lures you inside my cancerous reach.”
Brings back memories. What you’ve written is very creative I think.❤️
Thank you… I always enjoy writing from a darker side…
Darkness indeed! Parasitic desire….yeeow!
I like to write dark.
Oh, you did a great job with the prompt, Björn. Parasitic desire–I love it. I love the Kahlo, too.
My husband and I listened to a fascinating show on the radio in the car one night–a scientist who studies parasites.
I have been reading a book of fungi, they are so interesting in the way they can work as parasites invading the brain of insects….
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/cordyceps-zombie-fungus-takes-over-ants
It is a fascinating subject!
Ooooh that is soooo creepy.
Bravo Björn.
Happy Monday
Much🖤love
Very sinister…and well done, Bjorn!
That’s really dreadful, in a good way.
“Welcome to my parlor, said the spider to the fly.” I love the alluring yet lethal atmosphere you’ve conjured in your story. Deliciously dark!
A very interesting take on the prompt. Is the relationship symbiosis or are you a leech? She does not seem to be enthused with the relationship.
Oh wow, this is really creepy but wonderful. I love everything but the line, so when the moon has waned to a sickle…brilliant gem. 🙂
Utterly exquisite! I can feel the insidiousness of such a parasitical love. Bravo!
Yikes! A sinister tale indeed! Loved how you divided the given line Björn. It flowed so seamlessly I missed it on my first reading.
The man that couldn’t help himself! Bringing it up from under the surface it can be an almost prosaic tale of so many romances gone wrong!
Bravo! A genius level portrayal of desire. ❤
More Gothic. Possibly the best way to tackle a line that doesn’t have much resonance in these times.
Woah!! That relationship between parasite and host, as metaphors for human desire… the close is brilliant…evil and wanting! Great writing, Bjorn.
I enjoyed this very much, from start to finish–a masterpiece.
Wow perfection in surrealism and darkness!
~David
I love how the powers of light and dark are wrestling within the mind of this creature. It reads so poetically, and I love that last line:
“So when the moon has waned to a sickle, I can gently wrap my tentacles around your beating heart to devour you.”
It is that struggle that I think may exist within most of us really.
As a poem I love your take on the prompt Björn but from the science side I think you have only been reading about the worst kind of fungi – those that connect tree roots and help trees communicate and transmit nutrients might take a dim view of your sinister characterisation lol
I took some scientific freedom, but the relationship with trees is intereesting…
Wow! This was wonderful to read and envision – not wanting to devour thebeloved, yet unable to help itself. You really used your words to maximum impact!
Lots of truth here, Bjorn. And you did sooo well with the prompt line. I’ve seen your lady, “Roots” before, a prompt? Now, did I write with it’s help?
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Just read this a month later, Bjorn – a masterful chiller, of symbiosis gone dark! I’d like to explore the theme of “poisonous gift” some time, and would love to link to this, when I do…