For Kendall Hart
All My Children (1993-1995)
You
presumed
guilty
from the start
blistered
your sorrow
into sharp
blue light.
Your
quick
spidered voice
webbed
yourself
into safety.
We deserve
our speech
especially
if it bites.
To be a
villain
is sometimes
to be
a galaxy
of love
which
is always
dangerous
to someone
who prefers
us silent
obedient
invisible.
I often
felt
guilty
for simply
being alive
and my
villain era
growls
its back
toward
Bethlehem
with a
leopard
perched bite
as I
slumber
in scars
and watch
you
star.
Erik Fuhrer is a nonbinary poet, memoirist, playwright, and scarf-tie aficionado. Imagine Buffy Summers meets Blanche Devereaux with a touch of the Cowardly Lion. Their writing explores queer trauma, pop culture, and queer icons like Virginia Woolf and Sarah Michelle Gellar. Erik’s 2023 poetry collection, Gellar Studies, reflects on Gellar’s iconic roles and was praised by Addie Tsai as exceptionally delectable and devastating. Their forthcoming memoir, My Buffed Up Life, continues this exploration of queer trauma, using Buffy Summers as a lens. Erik holds a Ph.D. in creative writing but a Ph.D. in SMG Studies might be more accurate. A lifelong fan of My Little Pony, Erik runs hushlit: a journal of noise, teaches at UCLA, and writes personal essays about pop culture while coaching writers and creatives. And let’s be real: they’re still obsessed with Tenderheart Bear. Icon. Their favorite revenge story is Ringer (2011-2012). | Website | Instagram
