photo: sharon auberle
On Not
Knowing
by
Jeffrey Johannes
When
I was young, I watched
a
Chinese monk brush characters
of
red lacquer on a door
the
color of spoiled plums;
no
matter what his message,
I
felt the impatience of not knowing
and
something changed in my heart.
And
here lies the struggle,
the
uncertainty in wondering
if
there is anything
more
certain than losing my hat
when
I leaned into sunset
sighting
a humpback whale,
the
weight of its bones
bearing
hard to lee,
stunning
in aptitude and joy,
its
molecules speaking a language
I
did not understand.
~
first published in Nimrod
