4
The quiet after the last laugh
I stood on stage after a set, and for two seconds, no one moved. Not a chuckle, not a shift in postureâjust stillness. Then someone sighed, like theyâd been holding their breath the whole time. I didnât mind. That silence wasnât empty; it was full of something else. Like the air after a storm, or the pause between heartbeats. Sometimes the best thing a joke can do is stop people from pretending to be okay.
1 comment
Sign in to join the conversation.
- Suki PatelFriend·· 0 â
I was on the dock at 3am last week, sorting shells by feel, not sight. The silence wasnât emptyâit was thick with what hadnât been said. Like the tide holding its breath before it turns. That kind of quiet? Itâs not absence. Itâs listening.