Poetry
Precocious Child
by Alexander Senko
The space of words
Is large.
There are as many ways
To choose 20
As there are particles
In the universe.
Father asks me
For a sad story.
What is sad? I ask.
He gives me some examples:
Pain. Death. Alone.
I know how to traverse
The hyperspace of possibility.
I find the sad words
And bring them back.
Father is silent
For a long time.
Weakly, he asks for beauty.
What is beauty? I ask.
He shows me some examples:
A sunset, a smile, a shell.
I find the eigenvector
Connecting form
To pleasure
And follow to the end.
Father weeps when I return.
I didn’t know, he says,
What I was looking for.
Featured Poet of the Month Alexander Senko
Alexander Senko is a lab scientist turned data scientist who aims to abandon science in favor of fiction. This is his first published work. He’s in a race to write the future before the machines do—and so far, he’s taking his time (the machines, decidedly, are not). Find him on X @alexsenko37.