Josh Tvrdy

Fagment 4                         

         after Wayne Koestenbaum

a twunky straight

calls me sir

and a singular chest-hair

sprouts

on my sternum

———

two steaming heaps

of dog vomit

on the sidewalk 

 ———

I count thirty-three

undigested Purina pellets

———

a good reminder

that speed

is the enemy

 ———

that truth

must be chewed

———

I would enjoy Evan

far more

if his head

was a jar of pickles

 ———

nostril penetrated

by an errant spinach stalk

(surprisingly pleasant)

 ———

double-taking

for a queen lizzie decal

———  

on the back of busted subarus,

she lives

—————

Josh Tvrdy (he/him) is a writer, editor, teacher, and content creator from Tucson, Arizona. Winner of a 2021 Pushcart Prize, he recently graduated with an MFA in Poetry from North Carolina State University. He won Gulf Coast's 2018 Prize in Poetry, and his work can be found in POETRY, New England Review, Image Journal, The Georgia Review and elsewhere. He lives in Raleigh, North Carolina.