a different education

you would
skip school with
five dollars
in your pocket, half
of it change, and take
the A-9 bus
to the national
archive building
downtown
d.c.
and begin there,
with your other
truant
friends,
a jaunt about
town. to the capitol
to sit in
on a session
in the second floor
gallery, then
to the cafeteria
for bean soup.
then to the museums,
moving
so quickly as
to hardly pay any
mind to Renoir,
or rembrant,
or winslow homer.
you had to get down
to ninth
street to play
the pinball machines
for a nickel,
working up a sweat
banging on
those machines with
skinny arms,
and hair falling
into your eyes,
then it
was off to the four
seasons diner
for burgers and fries,
milkshakes,
down the street from
the old fbi building,
always leaving
before
the check came,
running wildly
down the street
until reaching
the blue mirror
strip club, where you'd
peek
inside, hands cupped
to the windows to
catch a glimpse
of blaze starr
and her bouncing
betties. before dark
you were back on
the bus, homeward
bound before anyone
even missed you.