Overnight, very Whitely, discreetly, Very quietly Our toes, our noses Take hold on the loam, Acquire the air. Nobody sees us, Stops us, betrays us; The small grains make room. Soft fists insist on Heaving the needles, The leafy bedding, Even the paving. Our hammers, our rams, Earless and eyeless, Perfectly voiceless, Widen the crannies, Shoulder through holes. We Diet on water, On crumbs of shadow, Bland-mannered, asking Little or nothing. So many of us! So many of us! We are shelves, we are Tables, we are meek, We are edible, Nudgers and shovers In spite of ourselves. Our kind multiplies: We shall by morning Inherit the earth. Our foot’s in the door.

We think that this poem is a metaphor on gender inequality – the mushrooms act as females in our society (perhaps how Sylvia, as an author, felt). It is related to “The Friday Everything Changed” because the girls in the story didn’t care about how the boys treated them, all that mattered was them sticking together, like the mushrooms. When sticking together, it helped them to thrive, as did the mushrooms overnight.

Earless and eyeless, perfectly voiceless; this shows how the mushrooms (as females) aren’t as important – they don’t need to see, hear, or speak because others feel it is unnecessary, even though it’s not true.

We shall by morning inherit the earth. Our foot’s in the door; the last line of the poem shows that they all stick together and with the help of each other, by morning the mushrooms will grow bigger, learning to face everyone else.