Monthly Archives: January 2014

Divorce Song

Divorce Song
Johanna M. Vining

I want to say it was, but
it was never about me

jealousy captured slime heart
affidavit of regularity, of plaintiff
sworn statement

remembering: love forever
but only until it wasn’t about me

instructions for filing, for severing
heart aside (beating, tender thing)
logical stance. We are. We were.

snow ball rolling. week after week
compilation of all those things unsaid

begging for kisses, for affection, for versed vices
meanwhile: neverwas, nevermore, neverwas
crow on my compost singing

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1/31/2014 Writing Prompt

When the dominance is a form of submission


1/29/2014 Writing Prompt

Describe your reaction when you finally get what you want.

Describe it after a short delay in gratification.
Describe it after a long delay.

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1/28/2014 Writing Prompt

Write about a return to one of your past fascinations. Write the delight, the desire, the joy in reuniting with whatever it is you used to enjoy doing.

Flip it, rewrite it for the now, own your happiness.


Every Car Passes and I Think It’s You

Every Car Passes and I Think It’s You
Johanna M. Vining

every car passes and I think it’s you
is this love or is it
uncertainty following a mess of nothingness

I like where this is going, but also

where is this going?

sometimes your hand forms a pillar against my skin
I am both things – lust and that unnamed emotion
a filter at the back of my brain
pressing urgency
muscle tension and the way my eyeballs roll and roll

but without that other sense of urgency that follows
hellohellohello take me as I am
and you are,




every time I imagine you moulding your history around my hands
how so, sew, sough
projection called out.

another distant rumble
another call to order
your hands gripping my hips

and this is this is this IS


my mother called tonight and I spouted this wonder
these words that flew from my mouth concerning you

one ear to the window
one ear to the door

can you hear my heart beating?
beat, beat, beating.

