A common and informal technique used to cope with anxiety is using the 333 Rule. Look around to identify 3 things you can see, identify 3 sounds you can hear, then move 3 body parts. This is believed to help focus and ground people when anxiety seems overwhelming.
I have forgotten my earphones
after leaving the house for a run
and all I can hear
is bombs and violence.
A building is collapsed upon itself.
The inverted body of a girl
hangs out its mouth like a scalloped tongue
but a strain of birdsong
pacifies my brooding.
Lullabies from the limbs of trees.
The flaming wine spilled
on Palestinian pavements
and hospital beds churns. Turns my stomach green.
When will this end?
A cherry blossom tree swells
like a bubble-gum balloon, ready to pop
and I breathe coolly.
The world is an inferno. Nuclear weapons
are pressed hard
like children’s noses against televisions.
Unavoidable. Lessons to be learned
but flying starfish
are frozen into the dark morning sky
and I recognise
that nature is doing its damndest
to look after us.
Stephen Watt is the author of five poetry collections. Stephen has served as Dumbarton FC's Poet in Residence for seven years, and also previously been Makar for the Federation of Writers (Scotland). He has edited two punk poetry collections for the Joe Strummer Foundation and Buzzcocks, and is the Poetry Editor for Nutmeg Football Magazine.