
Final Boy Dreams of Being a Crop-Top in a Slasher
Final Boy Dreams of Being a Crop-Top in a Slasher
a number 10 / on a chest / a Johnny Depp chest / that will soon stop moving / no breath in or out / there will be blood / the kind of blood that’s so over the top / you let out a laugh / then a scream / the beauty of youth / of boyishness / of cockiness / something that makes you / love and hate everything / about being a boy / about loving boys / though he won’t survive / no one in a crop-top is final / or maybe it’s Ron Grady / another of Freddy’s boys / that skin / plenty of skin / shorts and shirt / barely meet / then off / lots of off / field / locker room / bedroom / two boys / hand over mouth / Jesse on Ron / to be the top to crop the skin that is a boy who is moments away from an end but doesn’t know it / but you were never that boy / were you? / never as beautiful / never as cocky / as the one you dreamed of / like a hand grazing that perfect space / between
Final Boy Remembers Babysitters
KFC / earliest memory / a woman from church / Quakers / you were Quakers then / meeting house / not church / old / she was old / you don’t know if that’s true / you / maybe two / maybe three / memories you aren’t supposed to have / her babysitting you / KFC for dinner / could you even eat that? / kitchen chairs / yellow / the colour yellow / which is how you think of everything from then / the 1980s dipped in yellow / a memory / you didn’t have many babysitters / one sister / 5 years older / fell to her / people cared less / kids on their own / kids watching kids / then the couple / old again / across the street / watched your little sister and you / after school / while your mother took nursing classes / straight A’s / babysitters / nurses / common in horror / real and fake / like Richard Speck / all those dead nurses in Chicago / the 1960s / this couple / watched you / fed you / ice cream / in cones / with jelly on top / here try it, they said / you did / as you watched DuckTales / premiering in 1987 / old enough to remember / to dream of baby / sitters / no teenage girls / why never boys / gender again / and again / this too you remember /
Final Boy as Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode in Halloween
as in an outsider / with friends / books in arms / knowing all the answers / not sexually active / just like you / in high school / the only queer boy / not even out then / all pretend / make believe / it was the ‘90s / in Indiana / after all / as in born the same day / different year / November 22nd / the day JFK was shot / in Dallas / Curtis ’58 / you ’82 / first starring role / Halloween / your favorite holiday / as in Curtis bought Laurie Strode’s clothes at J.C. Penney / for less than $100 / just like your mother took you to J.C. Penney / for school clothes / less than $100 / how you hid in the rack / made her search for you / lost / but not / how mad she was / boys being boys / as in the film was shot out of order / as in Curtis was given a fear meter to determine how scared she should be in each scene / like the terror alert system after 9/11 / yellow / orange / red / or your own anxiety rushing up your chest / how high today? / as in Curtis’s mother was the original scream queen / Janet Leigh / Psycho / which makes you think of Anthony Perkins / that speedo photo / you found on the internet / a queer coded villain / Hitchcock’s favourite trick / but Michael is different / emotionless / mask / little movement / no speaking / called “The Shape” in the original script / a term taken from the Salem Witch Trials / a way to distinguish the person from their evil acts / like an apparition / a boogeyman / a part of you / but not you / something to kill / yet you know / like Laurie knows / like Curtis knows / it will never really die