The Book—Robert Cording
“The Book” is from Robert Cording’s new poetry collection, What’s Possible: New & Selected Poems (Slant Books, 2026). Find out more about the collection here.
Also, don’t miss our live training coming this Friday! Details below!
By Robert Cording
Since my son’s death, I’ve read each day from the Book of Unknowing. What I know, it says, is like spring snow, melting as it falls. But I am not like the snow, it reminds me, which vanishes and doesn’t care. The Book says the red trucks like my son’s that I sometimes follow for miles will always keep vanishing. It says the moon waxes and wanes, the sun appears and disappears. The Book tells me: Be careful, wisdom and self-pity can look the same. It says remembrance is never hagiography. That grief is the thumbprint of my soul, and whatever I know, I know by its absence now. It says I am asleep in the silence of the dead. The Book asks if I am aware that wherever I go I bring grief with me. If I can learn how to love by learning how to die. Every day. Love is necessary, the Book demands, even when it is a splinter of glass lodged in the heart. What I cannot see is what lies ahead. What lies ahead is always waiting for my arrival. On the first page of the Book, it tells me I know nothing. On the last page, I know nothing. On the thousands of pages in between, there are lists of everything I thought I knew. I read and read, slowly returning to who I was before I thought I knew who I was. Love what cannot last, the Book of Unknowing instructs and each day say a chorus of hosannas for all that was my life and still is.
Robert Cording is the author of several collections of poetry, including Life-list (1987), Heavy Grace (1996), Walking With Ruskin (2010), Only So Far (2015), and Without My Asking (2019). Cording has received numerous honors for his poetry, including fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Connecticut Commission on the Arts, and the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference. He has served as director of From the Fishouse and was poet-in-residence at the Frost Place. Cording taught for many years at the College of the Holy Cross and was a poetry mentor in the MFA program at Seattle Pacific University.
Go Deeper: Live Training with Tania Runyan!
Ready to practice your poetry skills? Join us on July 10 at noon Central Time for a live Zoom training from Tania Runyan! Tania will give step-by-step guidance on facing the blank page to begin a poem, condensing inspiration into a draft, and revising your work from good to great. Think of it as a masterclass—you’ll learn from a poetic master, participate in live Q&A, and walk away with actionable tips for improvement.
Can’t attend live? No problem! A recording will be emailed to everyone who has signed up.
Find all details and sign up here!
Go Deeper…
Robert Cording is one of the featured poets in An Axe for the Frozen Sea, featuring conversations with poets about essential questions of art, creativity, faith, meaning, and the well-lived life. Check out this inspiring collection at the Rabbit Room Store!
This poem originally appeared in The Common.
Photo by Danika Perkinson on Unsplash
I love: "whatever I know, I know by its absence "
Grief is the price you pay for love.