credit: Ganeri’s comparative epistemology
Posted February 10, 2025
there is no one way
to know a pear
even this one
which gives itself up
almost equally
to each of us
cold and slightly
grainy to teeth
juice too thin
to entirely reveal
its gold is both
the same pear
and a different
pear for you
sitting next to me
on this park bench
in the garden
of armchair
philosophers
we after all
we admit gesturing
behind us
between bites
walked different
paths to get here
came from separate
wombs read
different books
have holy days
marked by
our shared stars
sun and moon
but animated
by revelations given
by different sky
flying spirits
or gleaming
shimmers of serpents
admit we remember
different collective
triumphs violations
survivals
in the bread
of our tables
have each been granted
a tongue a taste
a unique history
of peaches
of plums of grapes
of bitter leaves
of milk and meat
note that we are each
glazed by the filter
of every preceding moment
yet stilled
by pleasure
attentive
in the shade
of fragrant purple
mountain laurel trees
we laugh
we continue
to share this fruit
fingers sticky
we talk we listen
we chew
we search our pockets
for napkins
to solve our shared
logistical problem
in spite
of our differing
firmly held
epistemological stances
we pause together
in this garden
made by people
neither of us knew
to companionably
exclaim to each other
my god
what a view