Table of Contents
The small things
Spider nets floating through the air, shimmering
A bird throwing out its chest and hurling its song into the blue
Sun on a window ledge, the shadows between bricks
A song about a blackbird that drifts across a garden fence
The bitter taste of coffee, and the warmth from the mug
Carefully stitching up some torn trousers from the back of the cupboard
Hanging up laundry, piece by piece, the cold softness of wet cloth
Putting clean plates away in a stack and feeling productive
Calling a friend who I haven’t properly spoken to for a while
Looking at the wind tussling some leaves outside
Putting up pictures, and watering plants
These are the things now filling my days
We need to give small things the space they deserve
And enjoy just being alive, every day that we can
We should sing, and play games, and tend to the things
We’ve already got, be content and give thanks
It’s a lot. It’s enough. For now, it’s enough
Tamara von Werthern is an award-winning playwright based in Hackney.
You can read more about the success of her dystopian short film, I Don’t Want To Set The World On Fire, here.
Her play The White Bike, and climate change book Letters to the Earth, featuring her contribution, are available at Pages of Hackney bookshop on Lower Clapton Road, which is currently closed but still selling book tokens.
