I Will Miss You

I will miss the class discussions,

Miss the ideas, the inspiration,

The excuse to pretend like I know something.

I will miss the seven-page papers.

We had some last-minute, highly-caffeinated,

Kind of creatively thrown-together fun.

I will miss you, assigned reading.

You were an excuse to broaden myself.

You were an excuse to improve my writing.

I will miss you, perfunctory invitations

To places I don't want to go, with people I sort of know.

Turning you down was moderately flattering.

I will miss you, professor evaluations.

Usually, I had something nice to say.

Occasionally, I had to say something poetic instead.

Bureaucratic hoop-jumping, I will miss you least of all,

But if we meet again, there's a chance I'll smile anyway.