Foot in Mouth Disease

Submitted by Madison Gohlke, Auburn University

Graduation Day

It’s getting time to move on out

The grades have been assigned

E-value tasks completed

Job offers all aligned

Houses, trailers, campers sold

Cardboard boxes packed

Years of dog hair swept away

Closets all ransacked

Old clothes pawned off on poor first-years:

“The only thing you’ll need!”

FIGS go for a hundred bucks; 

Why are toasters always free? 

It’s really been the longest year

And somehow the shortest too

We’ve SOAPed and SOAPed till our brains fell out

Then SOAPed and SOAPed anew

We’ve cheered our friends in surgery

And crushed rounds over Zoom

We’ve euthanized sweet patients

Then cried in the bathroom

We’ve chased manic goats and rage-fueled cats 

And sprayed stuff in our eyes

We’ve felt like superheroes

And learned more than we realized

It’s been a long time coming

And I admit, I’m awfully scared

They’re handing me a license

But I just don’t feel prepared

We call it “practice,” but seems to me

You must know everything

What if I miss hookworms?

What even is the spleen?

I’m scared of angry clients 

And renal-anything

But it’s time to swallow courage

And DO the hardest thing

We’ll have a lot of questions

And make mistakes along the way

But they tell us that they make good vets

And they believe we’ll be okay

So I’ll hold on to my training

And learn to trust my gut

Wing and a prayer might get me there

Even when it’s not clear-cut

And I’ll miss this lovely little town

And the friends who’ve shared the load

But now’s the time for moving on

To see what’s down the road