Vanessa Couto Johnson
Near Igreja de São Domingos, Lisbon
While sitting, I get
octopus legs in a cold salad
that you don’t want to see.
Cubed pearl onions. Someone
bearded and smoking draws
a cathedral where in 1506
one said he saw Christ’s face and
another said it was a flame’s
reflection on a crucifix; the latter
man taken and burnt in the square.
Yesterday, the tour guide took
us feet away to Ginjinha, spiced
cherry red liquor, which we drink
tomorrow again in another town,
inside a chocolate cup I set
whole in my mouth.
Vanessa Couto Johnson's third chapbook, speech rinse, won Slope Editions' 2016 Chapbook Contest. Her second chapbook is rotoscoping collage in Cork City (dancing girl press, 2016), and her first chapbook, Life of Francis, won Gambling the Aisle's 2014 Chapbook Contest. Her poems have appeared in FIELD, Blackbird, Cheat River Review, cream city review, and other journals. A Brazilian born in Texas (dual citizen), she is currently a Lecturer at Texas State University, where she earned her MFA.
Return to March 2017 Edition
While sitting, I get
octopus legs in a cold salad
that you don’t want to see.
Cubed pearl onions. Someone
bearded and smoking draws
a cathedral where in 1506
one said he saw Christ’s face and
another said it was a flame’s
reflection on a crucifix; the latter
man taken and burnt in the square.
Yesterday, the tour guide took
us feet away to Ginjinha, spiced
cherry red liquor, which we drink
tomorrow again in another town,
inside a chocolate cup I set
whole in my mouth.
Vanessa Couto Johnson's third chapbook, speech rinse, won Slope Editions' 2016 Chapbook Contest. Her second chapbook is rotoscoping collage in Cork City (dancing girl press, 2016), and her first chapbook, Life of Francis, won Gambling the Aisle's 2014 Chapbook Contest. Her poems have appeared in FIELD, Blackbird, Cheat River Review, cream city review, and other journals. A Brazilian born in Texas (dual citizen), she is currently a Lecturer at Texas State University, where she earned her MFA.
Return to March 2017 Edition