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Anais Vionet May 18
Our caps flew like confetti.
Thank god I customized mine.
I'll keep it as a memento of all-nighters,
friendships formed in the academic trenches,
dismissive professors and group-project-tortures.

This isn’t another ‘drunk girl’ holiday, despite obvious similarities.
Our parents, sisters, brothers, and grandmothers are here.

We came in doe-eyed, holding overpriced planners,
and enough provisions for two year Mars missions.
We hoped to discover friends, decent Wi-Fi signals
and perhaps our adult selves.

Now we're holding diplomas, those future-proofing talismans.
Mine’s in molecular biophysics and biochemistry.
Which is wry, because when I was in high school,
my sister accused me of not knowing how to boil water.

I've been asked "What’s next?" a thousand times in the last month.
I have plans—but I was dying to shrug and say, “that’s tomorrow’s problem,” like I’ve spent major duckets, degree wise, but remain the ditzy blonde.
The standard graduate answer, I’ve heard, is "I dunno."
(though honestly, it’s a great answer).

Congratulations, all of you graduating overachievers out there—everywhere.
Go forth, be fabulous and find that next big dream.
Can you believe we actually did this?
Argh! I gotta go, someone wants another picture.
.
.
Songs for this:
What Dreams Are Made Of by Evann McIntosh
Summer Wind by Robert Mosci
Tomorrow by Wings
BLT Merriam Webster word of the day challenge 05/18/25:
talisman = an object believed to have positive magic powers
life is a competition,
but no one really wins.
we overachieve.
set our goals too high.
and after all the effort,
end up farther back than square one.
we pile work upon work for ourselves.
we fake it till we make it,
but do we ever make it?

once the lights go out,
black envelops the machine that never stops.
not even when we sleep.
tears put out the electric fire that burned the socket.
and within the blackness that is my mind,
you can hear a sizzling sound,
until the backup generator kicks in
and we begin to run again.
heavily influenced by my mental breakdown only after 3 days of school. this was also written in class
Jen Jo Sep 2014
Are you an overachiever?

They call us the cool kids.
But they look straight into our eyes with that stare.

That stare.
Smells like jealousy. But sympathy it is.
Please don't sympathize overachievers.

— The End —