The Research Process

Here is your gift—
take some hours or days (a few)
Remove your sturdy costume
of cool disaffection
your face’s practiced slack of boredom
Jump in with your naked brain act
as if you are fascinated long enough
It will become true Trust me
You will discover a burning passion
to Find Out it begins when you
explore the little alleyways disguised
as footnotes Follow
Paths open into cathedrals and public gardens
thick with fountains and larks
Parrots who fly off over the crumbling stone wall
the wall you never noticed before
those exotic birds of not knowing they are
beckoning to you