The Things We Know – A poem for Parsha Nitzavim-Vayelech

And their children, who did not know, will hear and learn…
          Deuteronomy 31:13

If you ask my child, he will confidently
tell you all the things he thinks you have
no possibility of knowing

as if knowledge began when he
came into the world, and he is
the very first person to hear about it.

It happens a lot when he discovers
a new delicacy, such as Doritos,
and then proceeds to extol its glories.

Have you tried Doritos, Dad he might ask
and then I’ll, for some reason, feel obligated
to launch into an explanation of how

snack foods existed when I was a child
and I have, indeed, tried all of them.
And then I’ll feel guilty that I hadn’t

previously taught him about Doritos
and wonder what other gaps in
parenting, I may be guilty of.

Does he even know what Twinkies are?
The word Twinkie, as far as I can remember
hasn’t come up once since he was born.

I managed to get him to like the Beastie Boys
which felt like an important parenting milestone.
So much of what I know, if not all of it

was given to me by someone who knew it
before I did, and I suspect those people
weren’t the first to know it either.

This is what we do – take the things
we were told, and tell them to the next ones.
This is what makes the planet

spin in a circle
and twirl around the sun
as I was told it does.

Rick Lupert, a poet, songleader and graphic designer, is the author of 27 books including “God Wrestler: A Poem for Every Torah Portion.”