By Melissa Fite Johnson
I wear my new boots with dresses to school
like Claire Danes in My So-Called Life
which I rewatched recently                 which totally holds up
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though what did I ever see in Jordan? Obviously
             Rickie Vasquez the real treasure here
I mentioned this show to my students
who never know what I’m talking about
Yesterday I said Hi Sam
                                      to my student Sam
                                      and then made the guitar sound
                                      that accompanies Sam’s ladder
                                      on Clarissa Explains It All
It stars Melissa Joan Hart       I explained
She’s Sabrina the Teenage Witch
which also meant nothing
My students wear Doc Martens
but have never seen 90210
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They do not understand
Donna’s father was literally Doc Martin        They did not cry
when Luke Perry died                              though they know him
from Riverdale
He’s just the dad
                                         He’s not the most beautiful boy in the world
Â
And I said Excuse me
Google Imaged that white T-shirt
             those sideburns
             that slow smile
My job is to teach them
Poem with Three Endings
By Melissa Fite Johnson
My student asks What does this have to do with anything?
as I tell the story of my father dying. I stammer.
We must be vulnerable but we must be ready. Earn it.
Next semester I’ll be someone else, cool and tall,
not hunched like my mother who finally succeeded
in folding in on herself, making herself small.
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What does this have to do with anything? This is why
we’re here—to live and to die, for someone to care.
What does this have to do with anything? Get out. Have the counselor put you in Comparative Myth.
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What does this have to do with anything? In this poem, record him. Let him read it and feel something like shame.
Melissa Fite Johnson is our new poetry editor at Porcupine Literary! She is the author of three full-length collections, most recently Midlife Abecedarian (Riot in Your Throat, 2024). Her poems have appeared in Ploughshares, Pleiades, HAD, Whale Road Review, SWWIM, and elsewhere. Melissa teaches high school English in Lawrence, KS, where she and her husband live with their dogs.
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