THE WAY IT’S ALWAYS BEEN
It was completely dark and then smoke filled the air.
I could feel it in my lungs.
I yelled, “Run!” but then realized there was only me.
“Is this the end of the world?” I asked out loud,
and a voice from somewhere, answered, “It really doesn’t matter.
We’re all alone here, so if you want some comfort go ahead
and wrap your arms around yourself.”
Which is exactly what I did.
And as the smoke died down I settled my mind into the darkness,
the way it’s always been. . .
Meet the Author:
Jeffrey Zable is a teacher, conga drummer/percussionist
who plays Afro-Cuban folkloric music for dance classes and
rumbas around the San Francisco Bay Area and a writer of poetry,
flash-fiction, and non-fiction. He's published five chapbooks
and his writing has appeared in hundreds of literary magazines
and anthologies, more recently in The Paradox, Beach Chair
New English Review, The Raven's Perch, Hot Pot, and many others.