swifts  &  s l o w s · a quarterly of crisscrossings

to spice the otherwise gray
Vanessa Couto Johnson

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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.

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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.