If I Know Who I Am/And Yet Do Not Know Who I Am Poem by Shalom Freedman

If I know who I am
And yet do not know who I am
If I can know who I am
And cannot possibly know who I am
If you too are all contradiction and paradox
And nothing makes sense
Unless it does not make sense
And understanding too must always be not understanding
And not understanding- understanding

Then writing these lines
Must be like reading these lines
A waste of time that is not a waste of time
Or perhaps a waste of time
That is only a waste of time
And why and why and why
Must I try to appear a real I,
Knowing you might not even say hello
Before saying goodbye?