I’ve not checked the news for five minutes,
so I can’t be sure. Best check again. Better yet,
ask ChatGPT if there’s been any updates –
what’s the latest situation in Iran, Russia, the USA?
Has the nuclear risk increased?
Can I please have a percentage likelihood, please?
It haunts me in the night. I wake up at five,
shuffle into the room next door,
and – bleary eyed – I check my phone…
My therapist says this is a form of self harm:
I think it makes me safer but the opposite is true –
the greatest danger is that which I pose
to myself. Not the tanks or the bombs. Not here
in England. (How lucky I am to live here.)
I’ve not checked the news for five minutes.
I’ve been writing this poem and I haven’t checked.
Is this a win? Is this a small victory?
I put down the pen. What will I do next?
Joshua Seigal