mod|if|I
come in, participle particle // more action / figure than artifact // participating substrate
I’m a little muscular, / teapot handl / -ing with fingers mistaken as pianist’s // their slimness obs- / curing their shortness // my snout wet from recent drink
I man / -ipulate my belch / into my lover’s / name and giggle //
to be / a bitch is a mammalian / -specific state // I milk it / into not the jerk type / but smile spilling confidence // a swagger / in my holsterfree hips // don’t mind / if I me
Vanessa Couto Johnson (she/they) is the author of the full-length Pungent dins concentric (Tolsun Books, 2018) and three poetry chapbooks. Dialogist, Foundry, Thrush, TERSE. Journal, and others have published their poems, and their creative nonfiction appears in The Account and FEED. A Brazilian born in Texas (dual citizen), VCJ has taught at Texas State University since 2014.
You can see more of their work in 9.4 and 9.4 and 2.1