CRITICA

Nex Benedict, a non-binary teenager living in Oklahoma, died at the age of 16 on February 8th, 2024. Their death followed an altercation with classmates in their school bathroom. Nex’s death was ruled as suicide in a summary report on March 13th. The LGBTQ community has called for an investigation into the circumstances of Nex’s death.

Nex, I do not know you
Your particular corner of experience, 
Nuances of an unjustly shortened life
Child mocked and disregarded
Minimized to pixelation, headlined
This is how I know you, Nex
As one among infinite violence

Body carry, knowing what you know 
It fragments
A body not one, but them 
Dissociated monotony, killed by grief 
Your death punctures the veil of things are much better these days

In some ways
The deadness of she grating against my eardrums 
When I was your age
For am I not Other, like you?

I write in your honor, Nex, from an imperfect oasis 
Ten years your senior, across a pieced-apart country 
In spirit I am among the crowd of mourners holding candles in the sooner state 
So much eagerly taken  

“They did not die as a result of trauma”
Need not facts, nor proof 
Poison drips in veins of places 
Infecting rural roads and urban alleys between buildings, legitimized in law 
In vain bodies attempt immunity
Defense deeply rooted: fight!

The world’s vibrancy diminished, thinking reduced to whimpers 
The fight lives in your death 

I do not question you, Nex, although I do not know you 
Others like you see your news name
Wonder about Them
Today you are my tear-stained cheeks, 
The bubbles of fear and rage beneath my binded chest 
A call to action 

But may you rest easy, Nex 
Finally free from attack 
Peacefully unknowing of the turmoil that precedes you and that surely follows you 
As one among infinite bright lights.