Cloud of Unknowing

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The first part of this poem appeared earlier:

Unknowing

And so I move from knowing
to unknowing--not merely ignorance
but undoing the knowing I have
untying the knots and staring underneath
at what cannot be known once it is known.

When you choose to unknow
you cannot. It comes upon you
as a gift,the promise of bliss
that unmakes what you have known--
makes holes in what is
through which light might shine.

But the gift is two-edged
and what is unknown
breaks the links between things
known. Knowledge leaks out
mystery seeps in.

Our broken knowledge
is the gift of humility,
it isn't forgetting--a loss,
and absence. It is a secret
unraveling, a complete undoing.

Not passive, not receding
prominent and pointed
as the needle that breaches
the fabric, making holes
that let us know what is real.

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This page contains a single entry by Steven Riddle published on April 1, 2008 6:58 AM.

Untitled Poem [Cayo Hueso] was the previous entry in this blog.

On Reading The Portrait of a Lady is the next entry in this blog.

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