Red Dressed

She was enchanting,

and when I told her so,
she told me it was predictable for me to have said such a thing,
as if she had heard that line from every man in every room she had ever set foot in,

and she was right,
she had,

I had ammunition for these nights,
for these conversations,
in case I needed to show something for myself,

But she was looking for something,
anything, really,
that registered as converse to all of this,

and if I met those requirements,
I suppose that made me disarming,

Disarming an enchanting woman was a talent,
a particular aptitude for such work,
for people that had an intense loathing of themselves,
like me,

and that was that,
all I wanted to do was beguile someone,

if only she would let me,
if only she would watch me across a crowded room