a better education

bored with school

we would

skip school

and take the A-2 Archive

bus into downtown

DC

on a cold

winters day.

with a pocket full of change

we'd

peruse the pinball

arcades,

take in a movie at

Lowe's Palance, eat

fried

chicken at the International

Safeway.

we'd sit in on congress,

take the subway

from 

the supreme court to the Capitol.

have a bowl

of bean soup

and be on our way.

we were all the over 

the place.

down to the monuments,

to the Museum of Natural History,

then the Portrait Gallery,

we'd peer into

the doors of the Blue

Mirror gentlemen's club

before being

chased away.

we'd go into the magic shop

on 9th street

across from the FBI building

and buy loaded

dice and

gum that would turn our

tongues black.

then at last, 

with all the money gone,

but bus fare

we'd head back.