diff --git a/decode/fast.rkt b/decode/fast.rkt
index b910bc2..e8825fa 100644
--- a/decode/fast.rkt
+++ b/decode/fast.rkt
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
 (define (to-string x)
   (if (string? x)
       x ; fast exit for strings
-      (with-handlers  ([exn:fail? (λ(exn) (error (format "Pollen parser: can't convert ~a to ~a" x 'string)))])
+      (with-handlers  ([exn:fail? (λ(exn) (error (format "Pollen parser: can't convert ~v to ~a" x 'string)))])
         (cond
           [(equal? '() x) ""]
           [(symbol? x) (symbol->string x)]
diff --git a/main.rkt b/main.rkt
index f330adc..87dd0cd 100644
--- a/main.rkt
+++ b/main.rkt
@@ -46,18 +46,22 @@
      (define metas (make-hash (map meta-element->assoc meta-elements)))
      (values doc-without-metas metas))
    
-   (define doc-txexpr `(placeholder-root 
-                         ,@(cons (meta 'here: inner-here) 
-                                 (cons (meta 'here-path: inner-here-path) 
-                                       ;; cdr strips initial linebreak, but make sure doc-raw isn't blank
-                                       (if (and (list? doc-raw) (> 0 (length doc-raw))) (cdr doc-raw) doc-raw))))) 
-   
+   (define doc-txexpr 
+     (let ([doc-raw (if (equal? reader-mode world:reader-mode-markdown)
+                        (apply (compose1 (dynamic-require 'markdown 'parse-markdown) string-append) doc-raw)
+                        doc-raw)])
+       `(placeholder-root 
+         ,@(cons (meta 'here: inner-here) 
+                 (cons (meta 'here-path: inner-here-path) 
+                       ;; cdr strips initial linebreak, but make sure doc-raw isn't blank
+                       (if (and (list? doc-raw) (> 0 (length doc-raw))) (cdr doc-raw) doc-raw)))))) 
+
    (define-values (doc-without-metas metas) (split-metas-to-hash doc-txexpr))
    
    
    ;; set up the 'doc export
    (require pollen/decode)
-
+   
    ;; set the parser mode based on reader mode
    (define parser-mode 
      (if (reader-mode . equal? . world:reader-mode-auto)
@@ -66,21 +70,21 @@
            (cond
              [(equal? (string->symbol here-ext) world:ptree-source-ext) world:reader-mode-ptree]
              [(equal? (string->symbol here-ext) world:markup-source-ext) world:reader-mode-markup]
-             [(equal? (string->symbol here-ext) world:markdown-source-ext) world:reader-mode-markdown]
+             [(equal? (string->symbol here-ext) world:markdown-source-ext) 'apply-root]
              [else world:reader-mode-preproc]))
          reader-mode))
-      
+   
    (define doc (apply (cond
-                         [(equal? parser-mode world:reader-mode-ptree) 
-                          (λ xs (decode (cons world:ptree-root-node xs)
-                                        #:xexpr-elements-proc (λ(xs) (filter (compose1 not (def/c whitespace?)) xs))))]
-                         ;; 'root is the hook for the decoder function.
-                         ;; If it's not a defined identifier, it just hits #%top and becomes `(root ,@body ...)
-                         [(equal? parser-mode world:reader-mode-markup) root]
-                         [(equal? parser-mode world:reader-mode-markdown) (compose1 (λ(x) `(root ,@x)) (dynamic-require 'markdown 'parse-markdown) string-append)]
-                         ;; for preprocessor output, just make a string.
-                         [else (λ xs (apply string-append (map to-string xs)))])
-                       (cdr doc-without-metas))) ;; cdr strips placeholder-root tag
+                        [(equal? parser-mode world:reader-mode-ptree) 
+                         (λ xs (decode (cons world:ptree-root-node xs)
+                                       #:xexpr-elements-proc (λ(xs) (filter (compose1 not (def/c whitespace?)) xs))))]
+                        ;; 'root is the hook for the decoder function.
+                        ;; If it's not a defined identifier, it just hits #%top and becomes `(root ,@body ...)
+                        [(equal? parser-mode world:reader-mode-markup) root]
+                        [(equal? parser-mode world:reader-mode-markdown) (λ xs `(root ,@xs))] ; do nothing, it's already decoded
+                        ;; for preprocessor output, just make a string.
+                        [else (λ xs (apply string-append (map to-string xs)))])
+                      (cdr doc-without-metas))) ;; cdr strips placeholder-root tag
    
    
    (provide metas doc