Graduation Poem ~ Class of 2013

by Chloe Merrifield  and Nusaibah Coleman (about the authors)

 

Fall Part I.

 

It’s my second year after high school  Chloe Merrifield
Chloe

I left university, the oversized classes

the feeling that I didn’t belong

not to start over,

but to change direction.

I’ve left behind friends,

entering a place where I know no one.

I’m nervous

I don’t know whether this is right,

This college here on Center Street
Nusaibah Coleman
Nusaibah

***

 

Hands held to the heavens open to knowledge

Or a metal book that will crush me with its weight

Above the entrance, a new doorway in my life.

I dragged my questions

Through the shivers of excitement

And the knots of fear towards the admissions office

 

The first one in my family to start higher education

I had little guidance,

Besides encouragement, my mother’s confidence in me

Nothing to prepare me for the language barrier I found

When I landed at the foot of the admissions office.

They spoke the language of bureaucracy

endless paperwork,

I spoke with the tongue of a soul

Still untethered from the grasps of capitalism

Homeschooled, without an official signature

I had so many questions

Confusion laced uncertainty

No one to translate the forms for me.

 

***