pro tempore

All I do not Know

Could the unknown be a solid, singular thing?
A giant onion or cake resting in my back yard?
I nibble away at the edges most days, timidly
Lick around the corners with a cautious tongue

Sometimes, ravenous, I throw my whole body
At it, and find that all the things I do not know
Are sturdy enough to hold me up, strong enough
To throw me up toward the sky, and with this

Change in perspective, I see that all the things
I do not know are much too large and much too
Dim to be a pearly overgrown onion, or a waxy
Wedding cake on steroids, and floating higher

And higher above all I do not know, cradled in
The safe enclosure of the small tract behind my
Childhood home, I can look down onto me, into
The depths of my groaning, undiscovered self

.

[The Original:]

All I do not Know

Could the unknown be a singular, solid thing?
A giant onion or cake sitting in my back yard?
I nibble away at the edges most days, timidly
Lick around the corners with a cautious tongue

Sometimes, ravenous, I throw my whole body
At it, and find that all the things I do not know
Are solid enough to hold me up, strong enough
To throw me up toward the sky, and with that

Change in perspective, I see that all the things
I don’t know are much too large and much too
Dim to be a pearly overgrown onion, or a waxy
Wedding cake on steroids, and floating higher

And higher above all I do not know, cradled in
The safe enclosure of the small tract behind my
Childhood home, I can look down onto me, into
The depths of my groaning, undiscovered self