Jason Ridpath's "Process" tracks a whole emotional spiral in a few blunt lines. It begins with a simple, happy moment: the speaker feels great and notices the sunshine. Then, almost without warning, the mood collapses. The world will explode, everyone will die, and the world doesn't want the speaker to be happy.
The most telling line is "That's what I decide." It shows the speaker isn't simply overwhelmed by bad news. They talk themselves into despair, almost as if they choose it. The leap from a sunny day to the end of the world is both absurd and painfully recognizable, and the short, flat sentences make it feel like a mind sliding downhill.
The ending is quietly funny and sad at once. The speaker gives up hope, goes to bed, and plans to "start tomorrow again." The mood is wry, tired, and oddly gentle, as if this cycle is routine, and the title suggests exactly that: a process that repeats.