Knots

There is something I don’t know
that I am supposed to know.
I don’t know what it is I don’t know,
and yet am supposed to know,
and I feel I look stupid
if I seem not to know
and not to know what it is I don’t know.

Therefore I pretend to know it.
This is nerve wracking
since I don’t know what I must
pretend to know.
Therefore I pretend to know
everything.

I feel you know what I am
supposed to know
but you can’t tell me what it is
because you don’t know that I
don’t know what it is.

You may know what I don’t know,
but not
that I don’t know it,
and can’t tell you. So you will
have to tell me everything.

R.D. Laing