Glass Grows - poetry

We live in a glass world

glass dolls and glass minds growing out of glass jungles

glass bodies cracking and green

this glass shatters in this glowing stream

of green blood and green hearts

bleeding blackening grease

green governments eyeing

the glass green and

piercing glass into these green bodies

that spew their spleen of earth shattering green glass

breaking, burning, brewing glass minds that grow glass ideas

and pierce shards into these glass goats

glass ministers take glass decisions

as the glass pushes through the cracking earth, sprouting out

of these concrete jungles

into the glass tongues of these

glass people, silencing these glass voices

you are glass, and I am glass too

living in a world that's growing glass roots

- by Sruti (they/she)

Sruti is a spoken word poet. Check out their poem, "Glass Grows" as an IGTV on our Instagram, and the rest of their work on their own page here.

Glass grows is a poem that I wrote a while ago. This is unapologetically political as it should be. Writing political poetry is not just a hobby, it is for survival.

"Glass" here refers to the fragility of the human and the artificiality of the several factors mentioned in the poem and the "fakeness" of it all. It also has been used to show how the lives of the oppressed are perceived to be so insignificant and breakable by the oppressor. The poem talks about fragile minds that do not stand up for what is right, which do not stand up for the oppressed and are instead brainwashed by the oppressive governments which feed them dangerous ideas. "Glass green" here refers to money and how corruption has affected our society. it talks about how the rich, the oppressors keep extracting resources and keep robbing the poor till there isn't anything left to rob. The poem goes on to talk about how it is other people who rob, burn, loot, oppress and silence others. This aims to shed light on the suppression of dissent in our country. "Glass jungles" and other phrases in the poem intend to throw light on environmental degradation and rapid, detrimental industrialization and urbanization by humans, on the lands of the tribals, adivasis. In the end, the last few lines refer to how you and I, all of us, are a part of this system - some oppressed and some the oppressors. These lines urge the privileged to wake up, accept the truth and fight against the oppressors.

This poem in its totality intends to urge the people and especially the oppressors, to think, question and rise against the oppressors - the UC cis - hets of our society who live in gated communities without having to worry about oppression for they are part of the oppressors. This poem urges privileged "apolitical" people and everyone else to give up their privilege, open their eyes, identify the brainwashing and oppression in order to fight against it.