Talking with the Professor

he looked at me with that
vacant look that only a brilliant
professor can get away with;
anyone else would be deemed
stupid, staring like that, but
I was sure that he was pondering
how he might invoke Maxwell’s
equations to better understand the
molecular interaction of lunar dust
with the solar wind, or whether
his surface force apparatus might be
utilized in the study of nanoparticles
traversing single layers of proteins.
in any case, he made no eye contact.
He absent mindedly asked me if
I had come all this way just to talk
to him and I reminded him that my
son worked in his lab; I was simply
taking advantage of an opportunity.
oh yes, he said, yes, I knew that.
his eyes focused for a moment
on mine, and then he was gone
again.