By Tyler Jones
I want to be a better sun
Than the son who raised me.
Lighter in the moments you
Wanted me to be brighter.
Giving warmth when you
Believed I should be hotter.
Being a star to guide
But you said I need to lead.
All these lessons and more
But don’t get it twisted.
While I find myself
Putting out the fires you created,
Embers in my ashes crafted
A new sense of self esteem.
I love how you pushed me
To turn my small candle
Into a bombastic bonfire.
Grabbing parts that
Increased my fire,
Discarding coals that
Suppressed and seared my soul.
I’m my father’s son who
Became a sun before his eyes.
Now I’ll be a sun to the
Stars who will light up my sky.
T.A. Jones (he/him) is a Black poet/writer based in Atlanta, Georgia. He graduated from Western Carolina University with a bachelors in English and minor in Creative Writing. He currently works as a preschool teacher and occasio music journalist/podcaster for CentralSauce. He’s finishing his first poetry compilation, ‘Obsidian Sun’.
