In The Dowry of Education, Corrado Paina offers readers a rich representation of the many elements that comprise an adult education: from the perceptions of the world as a three year old to the drug induced visions of a junkie, to the lessons of love learned from a difficult, but successful marriage. In the poem, 'Tonight I am the State, ' Paina deftly mixes the personal with the political in a moving exploration of the psychological distortions of life in Cuba under the embargo.