The Projected Image Of Fear

When Fear Precedes You

It's an illusion
but I don't know it
as anguished I run
in the hours after dark

I run and I hear it
keeping pace with my gait:
I slow down
it slows down
I stop, it stops

"Someone's following me—I know..."

A snake with a woman's head slithering towards a scared man, an illustration from 'The Ballad of the Snake Woman' (reprinted 1930) — A snake with a woman’s head slithering towards a scared man, an illustration from ‘The Ballad of the Snake Woman’ (reprinted 1930) by José Guadalupe Posada is licensed under CC-CC0 1.0

Aided by moonlight
I turn to see
long shadows
of trees
mocking me

but I know this street--
it's lined with tall houses;
why do the shadows show trees?

"No one," I say with false boldness.

A few more yards
a few more heartbeats,
horrible presage

I turn here,
I turn there
where no one awaits me;
no one follows...

but where I follow a gal
who turns
and, when she sees me,
says, "No one,"
and stumbles on.

     © selma

What a fright it gave me to write this. I hope you weren’t too scared, my friends.

Short Bio:

Selma Martin is a retired English teacher with 20 years of teaching children ESL. She believes in people’s
goodness and in finding balance in simple living. She lives in Japan with her husband of thirty-four years.
In 2018, Selma participated in a networking course whose final lesson was to publish a story on Amazon.
After many failed attempts, she completed the course and self-published her short story, Wanted:
Husband/Handyman, in 2019. Later, collaborating with peers from that course, she published Wanted:
Husband/Handyman in an anthology, Once Upon A Story: A Short Fiction Anthology.

Selma has published stories on Medium for many years, in MasticadoresUSA, The Poetorium At Starlight, Short
Fiction Break, Lit eZine, and Spillwords.

In July 2023, Selma published a debut poetry collection on Amazon through Experiments In Fiction. In April
2024she was published in an anthology, Poetry Treasures through Word Craft Publishers, and in June 2024 in
a haiku anthology, Pearls of Haiku through Literary Revelations Press. You can find Selma on her website,
selmamartin.com, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook as selmawrites.

THANKS FOR READING
I wish you miracles.

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Selma Martin

I’m a simple woman who dares to see the beauty in ordinary. I’d love to connect with you and like pen pals, I want something beautiful to blossom between us. Will you join me? Selma is my middle name. Its meaning—peaceful, complete, are euphoric affirmations I like to think of myself as having. They compliment the joy I feel when I write. I sincerely hope you decide to join me on my writing journey. I Wish You Miracles.

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