Porcupine Literary
A journal by and for teachers.
Photo courtesy of Barry Zhou
Poetry
John Wick, in the Classroom, explains his Pedagogy
If you were meant to be taught
you’d want to be taught
by the sound of someone
telling you they want you to keep
going. You’d want someone
who understands that movement
and silence are not mutually
exclusive, that sometimes you
can get back up after you fall
off buildings, through glass,
through ceilings. You’d want
someone who understands
pain, knows the shape of how
something hurts, the way grief
can be a weapon or
even, sometimes, a way to not
be a weapon. If you want to be
taught, you want to learn, and
learning is best done by
whatever means necessary.
Even sometimes
by hoping you never
have to learn.
​
​
By Chloe N Clark
Imagine a world in which there are no
8 am classes, no students
Asleep in the back row, no how
Many times can I misspell
This word on the chalkboard?
A world in which the barista
Never over extracts the espresso,
I never sit in gum
On the bus, I never have to answer
Anyone who asks me a question
Even though my headphones are
In, I'm glaring straight ahead
Imagine a world where no one
Forgets the laugh
Of someone they once loved, where
Everyone we love
Knows that they are loved
And stays safe
Imagine that the emergency
Drill is just that, a drill, every
Single time
Imagine that we never learn
How to react to the worst,
That we never have to learn
Hide in the closet, block
The door, stay away from
Windows, imagine that
Out the windows, all we see
Are students walking between
Classes, stopping to tie their
Shoes, laughing, they are
Listening to music
Through their earbuds
Imagine that the songs
Are so loud
They fill the air
Until they swallow
The sky
​
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By Chloe N Clark
Chloe N. Clark teaches at Iowa State University. She is the author of The Science of Unvanishing Objects, Your Strange Fortune, and Collective Gravities, as well as Co-EIC of Cotton Xenomorph. You can find her on Twitter @PintsNCupcakes.