Bitches Get Stitches

currently reeling
from the initial shock
of the news of leslie feinberg’s
death.

if i’m honest,
stone butch blues
put me on the path
to my current work
as a literary scholar.

how do you repay someone
for changing the course of your life?
for showing you what matters
and who matters to you?

i’ll never come close
to living a life
as meaningful
as leslie feinberg’s
but, as long as i live,
hir work will not be forgotten.

“Feinberg is survived by Pratt and an extended family of choice, as well as many friends, activists, and comrades around the world in struggle against oppression and for liberation.”