Oh, Pretty Pauly
just fourteen
when he found you on Grindr
a twenty-nine-year old man
Receipts tell the sad song
Sawblades and medical supplies
His terrible plot
To snuff out your young flame.
A month after
the police hadn’t put back together
the beautiful scattered parts
that fit together and made you whole.
Why didn’t Lester Holt shed a tear?
Why didn’t 60 Minutes have a minute?
How could ABC World News not include
Western Pennsylvania?
But I will honor you, child,
and cry your lamentations
Even if in this new America
We trans must dig our own graves.