The News

Within a second of answering the phone

I knew something was painfully wrong.

I could hear him trying to get it out.

I'd have to wait, no matter how long.

Thoughts in my head ran the gamut,

While he searched to find his voice.

Was there an accident, a job loss, or...?

I turned down my frantic mental noise.

He could barely utter my name.

I could feel the swelling in my throat.

The mysterious terror stuck in his

As he labored to tell me what she wrote.

It was almost more than he could bare

To read aloud what she had said.

My stomach was beginning to turn

Knowing he was full of dread.

She didn't want him to know.

She kept it a secret. God knows why.

She'd only said that she was gone,

This was her final goodbye.

Naida Lavon

Write Around Portland

Returning Writers Workshop

Spring 2011