Time's Up

Run. It’s all about

to come out:

That D in 11^th 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