and he is some seaming together
of every white man I have seen on TV
the ones who beat criminals1 + who stop monsters2
+ who calculate impossible things3
+ whose children run amuck4
+ who escape jail5
+ do many things I cannot + those who I love cannot
even in a story + he is all of them
+ accompanied by the fairies of my childhood
now lighter than I knew—Aisha and Flora—
+ I want to make a statement
but this is my deathbed +
my fingers have stilled—permanently
instead I gaze at the fairies so deep
I see before the transmutation
their wings and hair and skin
the dark glow of them
spell a warmth into my cooling
body + I close my eyes
against the threat of my weeping
stopped only by the desert of my leaving
+ they are here
as I have always known—
winged, near
divine
________________________
1 Cordell Walker + Sterling Archer
2 Sam Winchester + Spencer Reid
3 Charles Eppes + Sheldon Cooper
4 Frank Gallagher + Bob Belcher
5 Michael Scofield + Neal Caffrey
–
Charnell Peters is the author of the poetry chapbook Un-becoming (Thirty West Publishing House). Her previous work has appeared in Apogee, Hippocampus, Crab Creek Review, and elsewhere. She is the blog editor for Ruminate Magazine.