He folds me
over his knee

and beats me
with a leather strap.

I sob. He strokes
my back, says something

about obedience.
He’s terribly certain

he’s teaching me
holiness, but no—

if I stopped sinning,
he’d have no reason

to touch me.

 

 

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Josh Tvrdy is the winner of Button Poetry’s 2023 chapbook contest; his chapbook, Smut Psalm (Button), will be released in December. A Pushcart Prize recipient, he lives in Raleigh and is hard at work on his first novel.

 

 

 

Photo by Eva Trstenjak on Unsplash