Dead Boys
1. Harvey Milk Sal Mineo Brandon Teena Matthew Shepard because America needed a scarecrow 2. Rock Hudson shamed and famous Gaëtan Dugas blamed for everyone when they named him patient zero 3. boys whose mothers chose the least-gay picture boys whose fathers found the magazines boys who turned tricks because the rent was due 4. Freddie Mercury’s falsetto Jackie Hormona’s blond hair Michael Bennett’s dance moves anonymous choir boys half lit near side curtains wearing tap shoes 5. boys dead before Condoms Save Lives dead before PrEP dead after PrEP before marriage before banks sponsored Pride 6. Dahmer boys Gacy boys instead of them we remember their monsters 7. boys nobody would swim with boys who never made it to forty night-sweat boys AZT boys boys in bedrooms powdering lesions 8. hustlers murdered in motel rooms hustlers stuffed into trash bags hustlers who fucked the men others were afraid to 9. earring boys choir boys football boys who liked lipstick beautiful boys ugly boys boys who pointed guns at bedroom mirrors dead boys in porn loops on blue-light screens bathhouse boys truck-stop boys footnote boys who will never be in print 10. boys on missing posters whose families didn’t give a shit
Audio: Aaron Smith reads “Dead Boys”
Aaron Smith is the author of five books of poems, most recently Stop Lying (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2023). With Maureen Seaton, he co-wrote the book Beautiful People (Bridwell/SMU, 2025). He is an associate professor of creative writing at Lesley University, and with James Allen Hall, he co-hosts Breaking Form: A Poetry and Culture Podcast.
So moving. Thank you, Aaron.
Gutting