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The Journal of Multimodal Rhetorics

ISSN: 2472-7318

starlight

KáLyn Coghill


starlight is a three-poem piece that looks into the interior thoughts of a past, present, and future educator. Each poem is the discovery of education and pedagogical practices in an afrofuturistic world led by a Black femme instructor. The first poem, past in the short series, investigates the inner thoughts of a student's first interaction with Black teachers and the wonder they experienced in their classrooms. present's second poem is the interior contention of being the youngest Black professor and wanting to bring in the pedagogical practices you witnessed as a child. The present piece discusses fear and the desire to stay in the academy. Lastly, the future piece is a letter to their past self, thanking them for never wavering from their futuristic and colorful pedagogy. It is a gentle reminder that every version of this Black educator was enough. These poems touch on Black Interiority, Black Joy, and Black wonder in education.

 

 

past

jumping timelines 

teaching 

dancing 

twirling 

jumping timelines 

twirling 

dancing 

teaching 

i watch as my teachers 

black 

beautiful 

glittered with gumption 

sprinkled with sass 

teach 

dance 

twirl 

could i do this? 

make classrooms feel like outerspace learning alongside students 

dancing 

teaching 

twirling 

could i do this? 

glittered with gumption 

sprinkled with sass 

bursting with benevolence 

instructing with compassion 

future me will need this reminder to 

teach 

dance 

twirl 

twirl 

dance 

….teach

 

present

if i am the youngest in the department 

if i am the first in bright colored clothes 

if i am the most fly in my sneakers 

will i still be a good teacher? 

can i bring my wildest dreams into the classroom? paint the 
walls with ideologies that challenge my students bring
laughter to those moments where fear seems to be thick
 

if i don’t teach to test but test myself as i teach 

will I reach them? 

bringing in concepts and new worlds 

allowing them to be as creative as they please 

creating space in space for my students 

will i still be a good teacher if i pull from my ancestors?

black, strong, beautiful 

bold, loud, colorful

 

future

dearest starlight, 

thank you for creating this realm as a child 

full of wonder and fantasies 

i must thank your teachers for being unique. 

i watch back as you twirled, and taught, and danced 
you stood tall in the face of those who didn’t understand 
you brought in stardust, glitter, florals, and fire you 
became an alchemist in the classroom 
you were black 
you were fat 
you were queer 
you were disabled 
you were poor

but my god you were you. 

future me thanks past me for you. 

thank you for your notes, reminders, your style, your grace.

we did something to change lives 

we did something that unraveled 

TORE apart 

dis…man…tled…. 

present me; 

past me; 

thank you 

signed, 

future me

 


Kay Coghill is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Media, Art, and Text program at Virginia Commonwealth University. Their research focuses on gendered-based violence online, specifically on Twitter, and investigates how Black women and non-binary femmes create harm reduction online. Kay is also the Digital Director at me too. International and an abortion doula at her local abortion fund. She has been writing and performing poetry since she was 9 years old. She holds a Bachelors of Arts in Creative Writing Poetry from Old Dominion University. Her favorite poem is "won't you celebrate with me" by Lucille Clifton and her favorite type of poetry to write is sonkus.