Known unknower — Summary

Dave BontaContemplative

dead ignorant I see only what I know not

astonished at the grace in undiscovered things

all undressed for the fur of fire

Show the whole poemHide the poem

Learn Poems app

Try the Learn Poems app

Everything from the website trainer, and more: new exercises, voice recording and sharing, reminders, quick review.

The speaker admits to being "dead ignorant," then turns that admission into something close to a discovery: all they can see is what they don't know. The title, "Known unknower," puts the paradox up front. To know that you don't know is a strange kind of knowledge.

What the speaker feels is less shame than astonishment. The "grace" in "undiscovered things" suggests that not knowing leaves room for surprise and beauty. The final image is the most puzzling. Something is "all undressed / for the fur of fire," as if stripped bare and ready to be wrapped in flames the way an animal is wrapped in fur. I read this as a mix of vulnerability and warmth, though the poem doesn't spell it out.

The mood is hushed and open, a little dizzy. The short lines leave plenty of white space, which echoes the theme: the poem says little and lets the unknown do the rest.

Read also

More by Dave Bonta

All poems
ContemplativeDave Bonta

Plea bargain

I hear half a beat of drum to serve time have half a hope in the meantime praise God
DreamyDave Bonta

Cibola 3

I awake in the dark and shake free of sheets & blankets, of down-filled quilt. The rituals of waking– the long, hot shower, the coffee–give
ContemplativeDave Bonta

In good light

On a maple’s pale bark, a zigzag ladder—old tooth-marks from a wandering snail? Green islands of moss