She was beautiful
and acted it
in that self-knowing way
that made it unlikely
she knew how to pay for drinks
or wait on a velvet rope
or how to hear “No.”

I was no help in teaching her
trying to please in any way I could.
There weren’t many,
I learned,
through the subtle lessons
of her gorgeous pout
her glorious shrug
and her horrible complaints
that were subtle
but oh so cruel.

When the Fall came
she broke up with me.
Maybe she broke up with me before
but I was in Pennsylvania
and she was here
so maybe I just didn’t learn about it
until getting back to school.

It was almost certainly
the most important education
I got from that place.