Perpetual Slaying: daughter, sister, & friend
(An Epitaph)
Basil Soper
the surly mug of slaughter is crocodile tears dripping from men’s wounds, the look death gives is drunk on cheap beer, & the thick accent of violence is invisible until we’re screaming
he was an ace bandage, shredding skin after it’s turned concrete from sweat, & a scar each one of us carries
now he is suspended over my urinal, he is nebraska’s blistering son & governing dead antelope creek so all who bath in it have blood on their backs
as they raped him they knew he was a roughneck too, they knew what he wanted for his birthday & that he had sex with one of their ex-girlfriends
they knew he worked the third shift, they knew he had no home & that he could ride a mechanical bull
they knew he was the class clown, they knew he smoked cigarettes, & that children loved him
they thought he wouldn’t go to the cops, when they got out they knew where to find him, & that he laughed the loudest in movie theatres
when they murdered him on new year’s eve, they knew how his face looked after mud bogging, & that they were going to jail
they knew what his ribs sounded like when pulverized by fists, they knew how flattered he was to have a girlfriend, & that he saw too much corn saying “those damn fields of golden rod everywhere”
they killed the single mother hiding him, they knew brandon was shuddering under a twin bed, & that a baby was watching
Written by Basil Soper
Author Bio: Basil is a man of transgender experience, writer, photographer, intersectional activist and Southerner who wears his heart on his sleeve. He is the founder and Executive Director at Transilient. He has been published in numerous of publications. Basil is also a self described coffee snob and he can discuss any genre of music from any decade with any human willing to nerd out. He uses humor as a defense mechanism and likes laughing more than most things (although one wouldn’t be able to see that in his poetry). Source: https://www.basilvaughnsoper.com/
Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/tiniestking/
“Coffee snob” and laughter!(Love that combo) Brandon Teena … Heartbreaking when people have to hide whom they are, and forced to hide from the cowardice and the ignorance of other’s beliefs. Bless the opened minds who run the open fields of change!! 🙂 Love.