All you can change, they say, is you.

You don’t control anyone but yourself. 

All you can do, they say, 

is take a breath and 

consider your reaction 

to what is happening. 

Return to yourself. 

You are what is happening. 

 

What is happening is a landslide, God. 

The world melted before my eyes. 

It is the feeling of my feet going first 

then my back, smack against the ground 

then the whooshing sound 

of the earth as it moves. 

 

It’s the speed. 

God, why didn’t anyone tell me 

about the speed at which it goes -- 

my horizon, my choice, my control -- 

before, blink, blink, 

someone with a calm voice 

is asking me about my reaction 

to a world now left behind. 

 

You are there, somewhere out there, 

though I can hardly feel it. 

Send an angel, send a fleet, send them now. 

-©Kate Bowler, when everything is out of control