Poetry: Brave New World by Tamara von Werthern

 

Brave New World

 

I wake up early, it’s still dark.

There are no sounds outside is quiet

No early morning planes ploughing

Silver lines into the skies, no cars

 

That started early to beat the morning rush

It should be peaceful, but it makes me feel

As though I’m falling off the edge of the world

Spinning into black and endless space

 

The days are both full and empty.

Working from home and teaching my kids,

Cooking, cleaning, the one half hour

Of moving through sunshine

 

Keeping a careful two metre distance

Between everyone I meet, heart pounding

With the rhythm of my steps and aching at

The sight of trees in blossom, green grass

 

It’s fine. We can adjust, we have to just tick off

Each day, one after the other. One foot in front

Of the other, small steps. Through this utterly changed

Brave New World of ours. 

 

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.