Red Giant
Jazmine Becerra-Green
Five billion years from now,
the sun will run out of
fuel. This concerns my son,
who asks for a snack.
What will happen? he wants to know.
Unquenchable questions—
He asks about black
holes and supernovas.
The sun will find more to devour, I tell him,
outgrowing shoes and toy trucks
until its atmosphere engulfs Earth
leaving it barren.
What will happen then? he asks,
horrified and hungry. I hand
him a bowl of sleepless nights.
What about us?
Don’t worry, I tell him.
We will have left by then.
Jazmine Becerra-Green is a Jewish, Chicanx writer and poet. Her work has been published in The Boston Globe and Bust.com among others. Jazmine is a teaching artist for Get Lit–Words Ignite, guiding teens in the art of spoken word. She also hosts a podcast called First Words, which explores the space where parenting and writing collide. Pronouns: she/her. www.
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