at a conference, i met an asian graduate student
who nodded excessively at everything i said
so i decided to tell her instead
everything i knew to be complete nonsense

she continued nodding, smiling
using her best english to agree
with every statement coming out of me
despite my plagiarism of joycean prose

all this went on for what seemed like an hour
of course it was barely more than a minute or two
time slows down abruptly when admiring eyes turn to you
and the only thing that stops the drooling are two fearful lips

that's when i told myself for what seemed like the millionth time
that i will never again return to this place with coffee and fruit
where every asian graduate student is in an academic version of animal pursuit
and despite the appearance, i'm a warm-up snack until an mit professor starts reciting wittgenstein