099 quiet epistemic pleasure
Lyrics
anything to declare
the officer asked
like he was charged
by the syllable
normal people say no
criminals also say no
i became a third category
legally empty
academically suspicious
no fruit
no seeds
no luxury watch
no suspicious cheese
but spiritually
officer
you have no idea
what i am carrying
i have tabs open in me
island biogeography
passport history
why zebras have stripes
one article about eels
that changed nothing
but stayed anyway
anything to declare
the question entered my head
and lost jurisdiction
declare legally
declare emotionally
declare as in
state for the record
declare as in
please explain
why your search history says
can birds be sued
i wanted to say yes
i declare
that curiosity is not a hobby
it is a leak
i declare
that the human brain
was not designed
to learn one eel fact
and then behave normally
but the officer
did not look available
for wonder
he looked available
for a stamp
so my brain began buffering
not noble buffering
airport wifi buffering
facts lined up at my mouth
like passengers
at the wrong gate
zebras missed boarding
the eel fact
was selected
for additional screening
i smiled
the kind that says
i am harmless
or about to explain
the word harmless
anything to declare
i wanted one clean opening
not a lecture
not a footnote
just one thing
small enough to hand over
and strange enough
to mean something
and be received
that is all
that is enough
to be embarrassing
someone would say
how do you know that
and i would arrange my face
into distance
the kind that looks expensive
but costs nothing
learned at 2:17 a.m.
when a tab opened
inside a tab
anything to declare
i said no
too late
the delay had already happened
the no arrived
with luggage
the officer stamped
my passport
no applause
no follow-up
no chance
for the eel thing
i walked away
officially empty
unofficially packed
my curiosity fills the forms
my vanity requests
business class
my mouth abandons
the mission
nothing to declare
skull full of contraband
still leaking
no delivery system
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