when Fahren / -heit approached zero in Texas
winter / -ization didn’t come // soon enough / the grid divided, diced / into unrolling zap outs days / long for many
before we lost / anything, I asked / you to bake scones // as the week / froze, it was / cook quickly if / the current is back // your mistimed omelette returned as unpoured bowl in the fridge
somehow your smile in cold candlelight // for me a rationed plan / and hating whim / by flashlight near / I graded essays
one daytime snow pose / and you photo / me without noticing the eyelash on my cheek // whatever’s detached / about me still / to you beautiful enough
Vanessa Couto Johnson (she/they) is the author of the full-length Pungent dins concentric (Tolsun Books 2018) and three poetry chapbooks. Most recently, their poems have appeared or are forthcoming in The Collidescope, Club Plum, Star 82 Review, TERSE. Journal, and Superstition Review, 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.
Image: “Pee” by Charles J March III
Pine Hills Review 