tyler pufpaff
“The act of trying to flirt or mingle
but you are so awkward
that you become a flamingo!”
—Urban Dictionary
Oh Tyler, how you try so hard.
You stick out like a fervorous flamingo.
On the back burner of conversation, waiting to come forward
you eat catered kimchi like a confervous flamingo.
You take an opening but trip over your words and retreat.
Your clothes feel tight. What are you? A nervous flamingo?
Ha, myths are just myths—is that plumage under your sleeve?
You rush to the bathroom—a polymorphous flamingo.
“Gwa GWa GWA” *ahem* “Thbbft!” You spit blood
in the sink. Neck craning down, like a recurvous flamingo.
Are you gonna break? That looks like it hurts!
Good luck with the party… is there any purpose, flamingo?
There’s no more reason for abnegation; she’ll probably like you
better this way: a wordless flamingo.
But instead you are a monstrous flamingo! A carotenoid hungry
filamentous-feather-seeking tenacious flamingo!
You squall, molting the last of yourself, as you hurl your beak
into her neck. A remorseless flamingo.
Crimson weeps slide down her body and give you red hues.
The party disrupted by a no longer conscientious flamingo.
Oh Tyler, how bad you wanted
to not stick out like a fervorous flamingo.
***
Author of A Quarter Life. Tyler Pufpaff’s work has appeared or is forthcoming in Torrid Literature Journal, Havik, Coraddi, perhappened, Emerge Literary Journal, and has been anthologized in Poetry Diversified 2019.