Nasty Beauty
by Marlena Chertock
after “Like Judith Slaying Holofernes” by Paul Tran
You nasty beauty,
you toenail-picker,
booger-flicker,
armpit scratching
beauty. Farting loudly
alone in your bed,
you don’t even realize
the sound your burps make,
anymore. Your sweat
shines like a thousand
potato bugs glistening
when you turn over a rock.
Marlena Chertock (she/her) has two books of poetry, Crumb-sized: Poems (Unnamed Press) and On that one-way trip to Mars (Bottlecap Press). She uses her skeletal dysplasia as a bridge to scientific poetry. A queer, disabled poet, Marlena serves as Co-Chair of OutWrite, Washington, D.C.’s annual LGBTQ literary festival, and on the Board of Split This Rock, a nonprofit that cultivates poetry that bears witness to injustice and provokes social change. A 2020 Pushcart Prize nominee, her poetry and prose has appeared in Breath & Shadow, The Deaf Poets Society, Paper Darts, Rogue Agent, Wordgathering, and more. Find her at www.marlenachertock.com and on Instagram @mchertock.