Hope for the Twin Cities: Poetic Reflections Amid Systemic Racism

Abstract

This article is an example of how one preservice teacher utilizes poetry as a platform to convey emotion over time. Through reflection— retrospective and prospective—the following poetic triptych examines the past, present, and possible selves of one future educator and her hopes of beginning a teaching career, amid amplified visibility of systemic racism afflicting the Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN metroplex since the murder of George Floyd and subsequent racial strife in the community. Providing poetry as an avenue to discuss emotions of crises and stressors facing society—in teacher education and elsewhere—allows for in-depth self-reflexivity, essential to articulating emotional health and well-being.