‘I Wake Up in New York to an Explosion in Lahore and Carry On With My Day As If Nothing Happened’
— Melissa Mesku
I believe the trick to achieving perfect symmetry
is to lean backwards into your soul and fake a ripening.
It would be great if nothing would happen today. Then we could do nothing about it, which is an appropriate response. But “nothing” will never happen. Something will happen—many somethings. Even horrific things. And some of us will do nothing about it, which does not feel appropriate. But what is the right response to horrific things? As Mela’s poem ponders this, she states, “…I can’t always be / a symbol of a wreckage…”
When it comes to horrific things, perhaps we never find an appropriate response. The task, then, is to do something. Anything. Even if that something is nothing.