Here Is the Prize-Winning Poem Written by the Woman Fatally Shot by ICE Agents in Minneapolis
"I’ve donated bibles to thrift stores,"
Published Jan. 8 2026, 10:41 a.m. ET
The world is trying to make sense of the death of a 37-year-old woman at the hands of an ICE agent in Minneapolis, Minn. The incident occurred two days after 2,000 ICE officials were sent to the city. According to CBS News, Renee Nicole Good was parked near East 34th Street and Portland Avenue when ICE agents reportedly got out of a vehicle and attempted to open the driver's side door of Good's Honda Pilot.
What happened next has been disputed by people on social media. Some believe Good tried to run over an ICE agent, while others claim she was moving her car out of the way. Regardless, she was shot at close range three or four times. Following her death, information about Good has slowly trickled out. Apparently, she was a poet who wrote at least one prize-winning poem. Let's take a look.
Renee Nicole Good's prize-winning poem seems dark in the wake of her death.
Good's prize-winning poem is titled "On Learning to Dissect Fetal Pigs" and, like all poetry, is certainly open to interpretation. The entire poem can be found here. In the poem, she bounces back and forth between references to science and religion. "I’ve donated bibles to thrift stores," writes Good. She then returns to describing being in a biology class, and how the glossy photos of biology textbooks smell.
She appears to question the coexistence of science and God when she asks, "Can I let them both be? This fickle faith and this college science that heckles from the back of the classroom." At the end, Good seems to reach the conclusion that the only thing that matters to most is the creation of life and the end of life at death.
Good graduated from Old Dominion University in December 2020, the same year she won the Academy of American Poets Prize for her work. The university's president penned a letter about Good's death. She earned a degree in English from the College of Arts and Letters. Old Dominion University President Brian O. Hemphill, Ph.D., wrote that he hopes this tragedy is a reminder of what unites us: freedom, love, and peace.
A GoFundMe has been set up for Good's wife and son.
The Rise Above Justice Movement Instagram account shared a verified GoFundMe for Good's son and wife. It was vetted by Jason Chavez, a Minneapolis City Council Member for the 9th Ward. The goal was to raise $50,000, and as of this writing, the GoFundMe has secured over $500,000.
One of the largest donors is Uruguayan-American activist Carlos Eduardo Espina, who donated $10,000 to the GoFundMe. There wasn't much written about Good in the GoFundMe apart from a single sentence that described her as "pure sunshine" and "pure love." The comments were filled with people who did not know her but were devastated by the tragic loss.