A powerful poem titled “For Alex Jeffrey Pretti” has emerged as one of the most widely shared artistic responses following the fatal shooting of 37-year-old ICU nurse Alex Pretti by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis. As protests and public grief ripple across the country, the poem has taken on a life of its own—circulating rapidly across social media through video readings, reposts, and deeply personal reactions.
Written by Amanda Gorman, the first National Youth Poet Laureate, the piece honors Pretti’s life while confronting the collective shock and anguish surrounding his death. Gorman shared the poem over the weekend, using verse to reflect a nation struggling to process another devastating loss.
“If we cannot find the words, may we find the will,” Gorman wrote as she introduced the poem—an invocation that has resonated strongly with readers searching for meaning amid outrage and sorrow.
The poem opens with haunting clarity:
“We wake with / no words, just woe & wound. Our own country shoot / ing us in the back is not just brutality; it’s jarring betrayal; not enforcement but execution.”
The lines quickly spread online, quoted across platforms as viewers described being shaken, moved, and unable to look away.
Gorman has long used poetry as a way to document moments of national reckoning. Earlier this month, she released another widely shared piece honoring Renee Nicole Good, a poet and mother who also died during an ICE-related incident. At the time, Gorman spoke openly about what she described as a pattern of escalating violence.
“I am horrified by the ongoing violence that ICE wages upon our community,” she wrote. “We remember and mourn not only Renee, but all those ICE has killed… and the dozens who have died in custody.”
Now, in the aftermath of Pretti’s death, Gorman’s latest poem continues that thread—serving as both memorial and mirror. While some critics on social media questioned her stylistic approach, Gorman responded swiftly, standing by the role of art as both witness and reckoning.
The moment recalls her 2021 inauguration performance of “The Hill We Climb,” which introduced her voice to a global audience. Reflecting on that milestone years later, Gorman wrote that the experience taught her how deeply words can echo when people are ready to hear them.
“Only then will the loving fantasies of our better nature transform into reality,” she shared in a previous reflection. “The work and fight for the dream persists… and perhaps we are as destined for this time as it is destined for us.”
As grief, anger, and unanswered questions continue to surround Alex Pretti’s death, “For Alex Jeffrey Pretti” has become more than a poem. For many, it is a collective breath—an attempt to hold memory, accountability, and humanity in the same fragile space.
