The Graduate by Caitríona Walsh

One Poem Only · Dec 10, 2025 · 2m

The Graduate

Caitríona Walsh

On the vesper of March

I pulsed through the desert,

Ever the vagary

Clot of the bloodline.

Koutoubia's minaret

Catnapped before me,

Steepled in sandstone–

A moonshot missile

Lullabied by ouds

And kittens'

Bare-bellied

Midnight mewls.

Medina mazes

Assuaged by

Cloud-confetti

Orange blossoms–

Palls of scent spun

In arabesque spells

Through souks

Keyhole arches.

I woke with Muezzin's

Call to prayer,

Parched, perplexed

By Agafay air–

Caught in my glottis

As cockcrow came–

Florid gown gone,

No call to cross campus

With tasselled cap

Like a gored Rorschach blot,

The…