swifts & s l o w s · a quarterly of crisscrossings
to spice the otherwise gray
Vanessa Couto Johnson
← back or next →
count them
Where is the fortune
in the automatic
teller’s carded
debit or debut.
Liquid dismay.
Crystal all, see
to it that crumb
leaves read what
the transmitters
need to spice the
otherwise gray
that really matters.
thrill switch
Two coins for my side
slot. When clink
enables claw, know
there is more plush
than your chance
reach. If you juke,
maybe the alphabet can continue
beyond b
-inary. Button two eyes but
won’t hug back, turn
over ping.
sate
How is sempiternal
not redundant
meal in serpentine
throat, clog
for footless
time. What would choke
on this handful
of applause.
Homeostasis is
the limited last
I comfort in.
← back or next →
Vanessa Couto Johnson is the author of the full-length poetry books pH of Au (Parlor Press, Free Verse Editions Series 2022) and Pungent dins concentric (Tolsun Books, 2018), as well as three poetry chapbooks. Most recently, VCJ’s poems have appeared in The Shore, The Broken City, Rough Cut, and Landfill, among others.