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
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
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
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.
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.
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.
