in memory of Nex Benedict and all trans and nonbinary

when asked “why do you have to be so loud

in everyone’s face with your pride parades

and your pride poetry, your lgbtq plus

books, plus teachings, plus music, plus

inclusivities?” this is why. because Nex.

because our young are be-ings, being

tortured, being slain. not just Owassa

but in towns all over Oklahoma and Texas

and the whole South wherever the waves

of maga grain wash up with fear and hate,

the KKK, their friday night lights, tail gates

down all over their fracking towns

with their square court yards and longhorn

hauled out of the woods up onto dining

hall walls, maybe with their heads, maybe not.

there is a fleeing from these twin peak towns

as young folk dare to just be, to live authentic

beauty, a freedom the hateful claimed precious

when they refused to wear a mask or vaccinate.

we don’t need select freedom. no ignorance

from the well-intentioned either, no thumbs up,

passive hostility from yonder nuclear family

when we’re going all out to make a path

for our visibility. we need all the words, books,

art, music, pride to wash out this necro-rot

of fear that has the best, most noblest

humanity fleeing for their lives. Rest, Nex,

in your vibrant life-filled power as you walk on,

as your sweet integrity of be-ing gathers

a tidal force here in our realm and in realms

we cannot yet fathom, flee, walk on.