Advice for a Bright Dot

AUTHOR NARRATION

Hear the poem.

Read by the author in the original English.

Advice for a Bright DotEnglish narration

IN THE SPIRIT OF SERENDIPITY

Are You the Bright Dot?

I like to imagine that one day, by some happy coincidence, the man—then a teenager—whom this poem addressed might read it and recognize himself.

In the spirit of serendipity and manifestation: if you think you may be the “bright dot” in this poem, I would love to hear from you and learn where life ultimately took you.

WHAT I REMEMBER

Your father was named Nate or Nathan.
You were from the Maryland area, or at least living there, around 2018–2019.
You would have been about sixteen years old at the time.

If those details fit you and you think this poem could be about you, please email me at afkingpoetry@gmail.com.

For your privacy, please do not post personal identifying information in the public comments.

FROM BLACK HOLE TO BRIGHT DOT

What the weight becomes.

Clock Counting opens on a darkness with its own gravity and closes on a small source of light. Read together, the two poems turn the collection’s central weight from a force of collapse into a possibility of lift.

OPENING POEMOn Black Holes

“though still, it bears such weight…”
“what makes nothing so heavy?”

INWARD · GRAVITY · ABSENCE

CLOSING POEMAdvice for a Bright Dot

“worth the wait,
and the weight of the way things feel today,
will be your wingspan, wide and right.”

Hear the poem.

Are You the Bright Dot?

What the weight becomes.

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