Saturday, April 18, 2015

Time's Up


Run. It’s all about
to come out:
That D in 11th grade chemistry
Those periods of econ you ditched
The chapters in Moby Dick you skipped
They know
that you scorned
the SAT prep course and
settled for your first score
They’ve interviewed two
of your professors, the one
who pronounced the endings
of your essays perfunctory and
and the one who found
your poems voiceless
Even further back
they did the math
and determined that your
high school gpa
is only honors-worthy
if you round up 
from the hundredths spot
There are eyewitnesses
who claim that the good citizen
award you got in fifth grade
should have gone
to the girl two desks over
and who point
to the fact that you cried
at the long first grade bus lines 
as proof that you never
had the grit that it takes
never wanted any of this
bad enough
so they are coming
for your diploma
your degrees
your tenured position
your academic reputation
your nice girl persona
Run. Before they
catch you
search your pockets
tear up your transcripts
and make you
hand it all
over

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