The Wardrobe's Best Dressed: Transitory by Subhaga Crystal Bacon

This selection, chosen by guest editor Valyntina Grenier, is from Transitory by Subhaga Crystal Bacon (BOA Editions Ltd. 2023).

content warning for violence against trans people, gun violence, murder

Brian “Egypt” Powers, 43, Akron, OH, June 13: An Acrostic

He knew so many people . . . He never met a stranger in his life.

Transgender is a blanket word for all who fall outside the
Realm of gender types. It’s not an indication that someone is
A person who’s changed their gender assignment or
Now uses they pronouns. No. One assigned male at birth
Still can use he pronouns and live a unique expression of
Gender beyond Gay. Brian was such a one. 6’4, sometimes
Eyebrows arched, and hair in unicorn braids of varied colors,
Now and then curls, or shaved short, and generally
Dressed for comfort. Brian who was also known in Akron as
Egypt. Staunch supporter of the LGBTQ+ community,
Recovering, and living stably, working as a cook, which he loved.

Paula Abdul back-up dancer was his childhood dream.
Even though it never came to pass, he still reminisced about it.
Racism, transphobia, or random violence, it’s still unclear who
Shot Egypt through the thighs and left him to die
On a bit of grass off the University of Ohio campus.
Nobody’s come forward to help solve the crime.

Subhaga Crystal Bacon is a Queer poet living in rural northcentral Washington on unceded Methow land. She is the author of four collections of poetry. Her latest book, Transitory, is the recipient of the Isabella Gardner Award for Poetry, from BOA Editions, and was listed in the Library Journal’s list of Books to Read in 2023. She’s the author of Surrender of Water in Hidden Places, 2023, winner of the Red Flag Poetry Chapbook Prize, Blue Hunger, Methow Press, 2020, and Elegy with a Glass of Whiskey, winner of the A. Poulin New Poetry America Prize, BOA Editions, 2004. A Pushcart and Best of the Net nominee, she’s a teaching artist working in schools and libraries with youth and adults, as well as private students. Her work appears in a variety of print and online journals including The Diode Poetry Journal, The Bellevue Literary Review, Indianapolis Review, Ghost City Review and others.

Valyntina Grenier is a multi-genre eco artist living with her wife in Tucson, AZ. She works with paint, ink, Neon, encaustic medium, recycled or repurposed materials and words. She is the author of Honeymoon Shoes and the chapbooks, Fever Dream/ Take Heart and In Our Now. You’ll find her work in, Beyond Queer Words, Genre: Urban Arts, Impermanent Earth, Lana Turner, The Journal, Querencia, and The Wardrobe. Find her at valyntinagrenier.com or Insta @valyntinagrenier.