I first learned the name Renée Nicole Macklin Good because of her brutal killing on January 7, 2026. I want to remember her as a talented poet.
In 2020, she won the American Academy of Poets Prize for “On Learning to Dissect Fetal Pigs.” It’s a powerful poem about grappling with academic knowledge and religious teachings. While there is much to praise in this poem, two images particularly capture my attention.
First, Good described “the piddly brook of my soul.” Though “piddly” or insignificant, such a metaphor for the soul also evokes the movement of running water. As my friend, April, pointed out while reading the poem, such channels eventually reach the ocean.
Second, this poem offers the gorgeous metaphor of religious texts that “are sliding long hairs behind my ear like mom used to & exhaling from their mouths ‘make room for wonder.’” “Wonder” can express a desire for knowledge, yet it can also refer to the inexplicable.
The wisdom of many faith traditions is to remain open to mystery. If we are certain, then we cannot be surprised, and there can be joy in the surprise. Mary Oliver wrote, “I believe I will never quite know” what the soul is, and yet “I play at the edges of knowing.” I think of that kind of “play” as making room for wonder in both senses of the word.
In the aftermath of her killing, there have been brilliant poets, such as Amanda Gorman, who have written in memory of Renée Nicole Good. I think her words live on in how they connect with other poets and ideas and how they continue to move readers like me and my friends.
For instance, I had a friend and fellow writer who, when we would gather together to share poems, used to refer to our work as “just piddlin’.” He meant it in a self-deprecating way, for we had no illusions of grandeur with our words. And it was also an expression of affection. Now that he’s dead, I remember the phrase with fondness and gratitude.
In such a divided, violent time, I find hope in that idea that, like a “piddly brook,” we, as individuals, are connected to others in a larger mystery. And may the memory of Renée Nicole Macklin Good be a blessing.
Andrew Taylor-Troutman is the author of the book with Wipf and Stock Publishers titled This Is the Day: A Year of Observing Unofficial Holidays about Ampersands, Bobbleheads, Buttons, Cousins, Hairball Awareness, Humbugs, Serendipity, Star Wars, Teenagers, Tenderness, Walking to School, Yo-Yos, and More. He lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina where he is a student of joy.
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