steel over green

The seed’s home is the resting state.
Its silent roots humming a low song
curled deep in sweet sleep,
rivulets of water
gently finding its nerves.

The husks, dry and tight
like carefully wrapped muslin parcels,
ripe with the promise of verdancy,
a perilous cargo against the long slog
through indifferent soil.

They wait, held tightly in earth’s fists
dreaming of their yield
like the memory
of a golden mango moon
hanging heavy over soil, flecked violet with dawn.

Silent, while a cacophony circles above:
crows, gulls, eagles,
warning cries scraping the sky,
a strong abrasion
in the throat of the field.

Then, a sudden shock.
A cold flash of steel over grass,
an enormous wheel’s ominous sound.
Promises dispersing like startled birds,
hope scattering into a thousand extinguished sparks.

The earth’s mouth,
raw with the bitter flints of blades,
the sharp clang of metal biting deep,
a hatred for the stubborn green
that dares push through.

Vinita Agrawal lives in Indore, India. She has authored seven books of poetry and edited two anthologies on climate change. Her latest poetry collection is The Hour of God published by Red River Press. Her poem ‘A Place both Inside and Out’ was shortlisted for poem of the year 2026 by Arc Poetry, Canada.  She was the Runner-up for Mānoa poetry prize 2025, runner-up for the Earth Amulet Poetry Prize ( River Paw Press), and was awarded the Jayanta Mahapatra National Award for Literature 2024,  She convened the PEN All-India Centre at Prithvi Theatre, Mumbai. She has authored a book of children’s fiction titled Jade and the Harmony Flyers. Her poetry has been published in Gallerie, Global South, Pratik, Mascara Review, Indian Literature, Asian Cha, Voice and Verse, Tiger Moth Review, The Bombay Literary Magazine, Knopf Newsletter, Canary, Tabula Rasa, Poetry Lighthouse, Beaver, Strange Horizons, Madras Courier among others. She is on the advisory board of the Tagore Literary Prize. She is an amateur naturalist, and an amateur bird photographer. www.vinitawords.com