The Collie I Never Had
I wanted to adopt a collie
and I didn’t copy that from that
from anywhere
I swear
my mother always said
if we got a dog
it would have to be a collie
which never happened
because of all the shedding
we predicted
we got a shih tzu
and dad called him
the emperor’s dog.
I plagiarized a lot as a child
especially Roald Dahl
but my teachers never noticed
if they did they didn’t tell me
which maybe is bad
I was never sure if this made me happy
or if I was disappointed with them
for being my teachers
and not knowing
the tricks of an eight year old:
either way I think
I’d wished they were
better (readers).
Jessica Schouela originally from Montreal, Canada and is currently pursuing her masters at University College London in History of Art in London, England. Her aim is to move to Edinburgh and work with artist residency programs in the Highlands in order to explore the ways in which contemporary art can be made and exhibited in remote places, outside cultural hubs. http://cabbagemoths.blogspot.co.uk