Mushrooms             Sylvia Plath

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.

 

The story relates to the poem because in the poem it says, “Nobody sees us” and I feel a lot of women have the feeling that they are in the shadows of men. The boys in the story are the ones who do all the work because they “have the strength” and get credited for it. The girls don’t get to carry the water bucket which makes them feel small and unnoticed for their strength. MuSh