Mushrooms Freedom and Confinement Quotes

This image totally gives us the feeling that these mushrooms are trying to be free. They're sick of being smothered way down in the dirt. So, they push their way above ground where they can breathe. Therefore the dirt could be symbolic of whatever forces in society are holding them down. Of course, isn't the dirt also the thing that they draw life from? How do you explain this paradox?

These lines give us a series of images that show just how bad these mushrooms want to be free. Soft fists or no, these mushroom are going to make a place from themselves in this world. They might be timid, but they refuse to be hemmed in by needles, stone barricades, and... um... leaves. How do you think this more violent imagery jives with the more passive imagery in the rest of the poem?

The image of the foot in the door here is interesting. Usually, when this phrase is used it's about someone gaining access to something they've always wanted. So, they're getting inside of something, right? Here, though, the thing they want to get inside of is the whole wide open world. They want the freedom to make their own choices and to express themselves as they choose.