‘Her absence roars’: Peter Dinklage honors Renee Nicole Good with a poem at public event

Peter Dinklage honored Renee Nicole Good, a mother of three killed by an ICE agent in Minneapolis, with a poem celebrating her spirit
PUBLISHED FEB 2, 2026
Peter Dinklage read an Amanda Gorman poem at a vigil honoring Renee Nicole Good, using vivid imagery to show how her spirit endures despite grief (Getty Images)
Peter Dinklage read an Amanda Gorman poem at a vigil honoring Renee Nicole Good, using vivid imagery to show how her spirit endures despite grief (Getty Images)


NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: Actor Peter Dinklage honored Renee Nicole Good with a moving poem at a New York vigil. Good, a 37-year-old mother of three and aspiring poet, was fatally shot by a Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent during an operation in Minneapolis on January 7, 2026.

Dinklage used the poem to highlight how deeply Good’s absence will be felt and to celebrate her lasting spirit through vivid images of grief and resilience.

Peter Dinklage honors Renee Nicole Good at vigil

Peter Dinklage attends the 'Wicker' Premiere during the 2026 Sundance Film Festival at Eccles Center Theater on January 24, 2026 in Park City, Utah. (Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images)
Peter Dinklage attends the 'Wicker' Premiere during the 2026 Sundance Film Festival at Eccles Center Theater on January 24, 2026 in Park City, Utah (Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images)

Peter Dinklage took the stage at a public vigil and delivered a powerful reading of a poem to honor Renee Nicole Good. The poem, “For Renee Nicole Good, Killed by ICE on January 7, 2026,” was written by Amanda Gorman.

At the start, Dinklage read in a somber tone: “They say she is no more, that her absence roars, blood-blown like a rose, iced wheels flinched & froze.”

The 'Game of Thrones' star continued with emotionally intense lines about candlelit vigils, flowers, and hymns of protest, painting a picture of how Good’s spirit lives on even in deep grief.

He said, “Now bear a riot of candles, Dark Fury of flowers, pure howling of hymns. And for us, she arose somewhere in the pitch deep of our grief. Crouches our power, the howl, where we begin straining upon the edge of the crooked crater of the worst of what we have been.”

A portrait of Renee Nicole Good is pasted to a light pole near the site of her shooting on January 08, 2026 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. According to federal officials, an ICE agent shot and killed Good during a confrontation yesterday in south Minneapolis. (Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)
A portrait of Renee Nicole Good is pasted to a light pole near the site of her shooting on January 08, 2026 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. According to federal officials, an ICE agent shot and killed Good during a confrontation yesterday in south Minneapolis (Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)

Dinklage urged the audience to believe that real change comes when people’s passion and anger are guided by love and hope, and he spoke of Good’s memory as a force that “will never be fully gone.”

"Changes only possible and all the greater when the labor and bitter anger of our neighbors is moved by the love and better angels of our nature. What they call Death and void. We know breath and voice.”

He concluded, “In the end gorgeously endures and enormity. You could believe it departed to be the dawn. When the blank Knight has so long stood. But our bright-fled angles will never be fully gone? When they forever are fiercely Good.” 

Celebrities slam ICE after Minnesota shooting

Many actors and musicians have publicly criticized Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) following the fatal shooting of Renee Good by a federal agent during an enforcement operation in Minneapolis on January 7, 2026. Good was killed when an ICE officer fired into her vehicle as she tried to drive away.

HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA - NOVEMBER 01: Eva Longoria attends the Carlos Eric Lopez's Fourth Annual Día de Muertos Gala at Paramount Pictures Studios on November 01, 2024 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Amy Sussman/Getty Images)
Eva Longoria attends the Carlos Eric Lopez's Fourth Annual Dia de Muertos Gala at Paramount Pictures Studios on November 01, 2024 in Hollywood, California (Amy Sussman/Getty Images)

Recently, singer Rosanne Cash urged fans who support the Trump administration to unfollow her after condemning the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and saying federal agents are “too busy shooting private citizens.”

Peter Dinklage attends the
Peter Dinklage attends the 'Wicker' Premiere during the 2026 Sundance Film Festival at Eccles Center Theater on January 24, 2026 in Park City, Utah (Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images)

Actress Eva Longoria also spoke out, wrongly claiming that ICE agents are “blatantly murdering citizens,” while 'Breaking Bad' star Giancarlo Esposito encouraged people to join a “revolution” against ICE. Esposito added controversial remarks suggesting that even if millions were killed, “the rest of us would survive.”

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