Unknowing is not a cloud
that conceals understanding
requiring explanation to clear the air
Knowing is the cloud perhaps
seductively defined by wisps and vapor
Rorschach shapes of weather
spilled like milk across the sky
You can analyze the knowing cloud
but only in the now;
if you study for just a moment
you see it morph and merge and dissipate
Unknowing is instead a gentle breeze
nudging limits of the knowing cloud;
not a gale wind bent on smashing proofs
but a subtle cue to notice
how knowing waivers
Unknowing is and must be
ever present
to shift the shape of knowing
and whisper
Why?
First published October 11, 2015.
Photo by Maddison McMurrin courtesy of Unsplash
Wind Rush 
Love this, LuAnne – knowing is the cloud – nothing is static.
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Thank you, VJ. I appreciate your comment.
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Most welcome, LuAnne.
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Beautifully composed poem on Unknowing, LuAnne. Superb.
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Thank you so much, Kamal.
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Welcome always dear ❤️
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Wonderful perspective, LuAnne. I’ve gotten old enough to see not-knowing as an advantage, as motivation to probe possibilities. I have less and less patience with those who assert anything as rigid fact. I try to look at my impatience as another cloud and let it blow on past. I love this poem’s emphasis on ever-changing and fostering curiosity.
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Thank you, Jazz. I think this awareness has come with age for me, too. It’s funny that as a teen I was certain I knew so much more than my parents. Now I so wish I could ask their advice about a myriad of topics, including being a mom to adult daughters. Thanks for stopping by, Jazz. I appreciate your comments as always.
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Wonderful poem! Some lovely images, “spilled like milk across the sky” Nothing is absolute, all is bound in shifting perspectives
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Thank you, Heather. A lot has happened since I first penned this over six years ago, mostly uncertainty! Glad you stopped by.
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You’re welcome.
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This took me back to “The Cloud of Unknowing” a 13th century treatise on meditation, I found this poem to be meditative and questioning the order of things.
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Thank you so much, Paul, for introducing me to “The Cloud of Unknowing”. I was not familiar with its existence. I appreciate your comment and this nudge into unfamiliar territory.
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