Final Boy Remembers the Boogeyman
art by Stephanie Ann Farra
by Stephen S. Mills
a story told over & over & over until it becomes a shadow of itself / boogeymen thrive / the dead of night / Halloween maybe / most definitely fall / a crunch of leaves / a stick that cracks against a sneaker / that silence of midwestern nights / the ones of your childhood / dressed as a dinosaur/ your mother made / roaming the neighborhood for treats / never tricks / tricks would come later in the heat of Orlando / that Florida humidity / where you spent three nights a week at a gay club/ sometimes in costume / never a dinosaur / sometimes shirtless / chest tight with youth / bones and skin / and a time or two in less / a foam party that was all slick hands & thighs & cocks / then there was that June morning in New York / your home now / a text from an Orlando friend: have u seen?/seen what? / and then it was there in news alerts / not a dream / and this time / this time / you couldn’t help but ask was that the boogeyman?
Stephen S. Mills (he/they) is the author of the Lambda Award-winning book He Do the Gay Man in Different Voices (2012) as well as A History of the Unmarried (2014) and Not Everything Thrown Starts a Revolution (2018) all from Sibling Rivalry Press. His work has appeared in The American Poetry Review, Columbia Poetry Review, Fourteen Poems, The Los Angeles Review, and others. Two of his books were placed on the Over the Rainbow List compiled yearly by the American Library Association. He is also the author of the plays Waiting for Manilow and Is That All There Is? His fourth book Final Slash Boy is forthcoming from Broken Sleep Books. He lives in New York City. Website: http://www.stephensmills.com/
Stephanie Ann Farra of Philadelphia, is a photographer and writer whose work explores the subtle intersections of nature and human expression. With a deep appreciation for history and storytelling, she uses both imagery and language to capture moments that feel timeless.
