Photography © Edward S. Gault

 

Small Acts of Resistance

Let this be the year we make things
by hand. Or from a kit—even paint-by-number
counts as homemade. Needlepoint and knitting,
anything analog, grandma-inspired, trending,
worth unraveling thick spools of thread
or bright skeins of color,
to stitch memories together, paste them
inside a vintage blue album
sealed with generational glue.

Let this be the year we unplug and sit together at the table,
hands free for crosswords or jigsaws, a game of cards between us.

Mahjong. Uno.
Kings in the Corner. Canasta.

Bring back the board games—
Battleship. Monopoly.
Clue. Risk. Operation. Trouble.

Let this be the year
of small acts of resistance.
Less doomscrolling.

 

Tammy Smith, a licensed clinical social worker based in Fair Lawn, New Jersey, writes at the intersection of creativity and mental health. Her work appears or is forthcoming in ONE ART, The New Verse News, Grand Little Things, Paterson Literary Review, San Pedro River Review, and elsewhere.

Edward S. Gault is a poet and fine arts photographer living in Brighton, Massachusetts. His work has appeared in Oddball Magazine, Spectrum, Wilderness House Literary Review, Interlude, Currents, and Encore. His poetry collection, Airhead and Other Poems was published this year by Read and Green Books.