Indeterminacy 81

(Salvador Dali)

Once when Lois Long was on a mushroom
walk led by Guy Nearing,
a mushroom was found that was quite
rare. Guy Nearing told
Lois Long that it was Pleurotus
masticatus. They then
walked along and Lois Long,
realizing she had already
forgotten the name of the mushroom,
said to Guy Nearing,
“I just can’t get the name
of that mushroom into my head.
In fact,
I have a terrible time remembering
any of these Latin names.”
Guy Nearing said,
“When you don’t know the name
of a mushroom, you
should say it first to the
person in front of you,
and then to the person
in back of you.
Soon, you’ll
find, you remember it.”

- John Cage

Indeterminacy 179

While we were
sitting on top of
Slide Mountain
looking out
towards Cornell and
Wittenberg
and the Ashokan
Reservoir beyond,

Guy Nearing said
he had
known two women
who
were bitten by
copperheads.

“They were just
the same after
as before,”
he said,

“except
they were a
little more cranky.”

- John Cage

Indeterminacy 131

We have the impression that
we’re learning nothing,
but as the years
pass we recognize more
and more mushrooms and
we find that the
names that go with them
begin to stick in our
heads.

Furthermore, we’re
still alive.

However, we must be
cautious.
Guy Nearing sometimes says
that all mushroom experts
die from mushroom poisoning.
Donald
Malcomb finds the
dangers of lion hunting
largely imaginary,
those of mushroom
hunting perfectly real.

- John Cage