11. graduated without 4.0

graduated without 4.0
without The Very Important Award
without acceptance letter
without speech
without salary
without much interest in what said at Commencement
     or friend to distract while sitting through
without Linguistics degree or Nature publication
much less, thesis in fiction writing
without my name on a brick or conversational Spanish
without Them—no, not even Her
without closure
without fame
without wishing I could start over

graduated with self-made degree
with poetry
with pockets
     ​and an extra inch or two in heels
with medication
with big-hearted little dog back at the apartment
with Honors and Distinction and a touch of Relief
with love down the block, a text away
with overcast sky and broken promise of rain
with blood searching the sea of blue gowns for me
with pimple, just one
with humility
with hope
with dying seedlings, overwatered by my hand