In 1986, Frank Jackson proposed a thought experiment, “What Mary Didn’t Know,” where Mary is sequestered alone in a colorless room, in which she learns about the physical nature of color from black-and-white textbooks and television without ever experiencing color herself. Readers, thinkers and critics have been speculating as to how (and if) Mary would change upon her release from this room and her first real encounter with color.

But for now, both of us alone in our rooms, Mary and I are companions.

Mary and me

         we’re out of sync with the world 

                    solving puzzles no one else can see

          sequestered and undisturbed.

will you ever come back to your room 

          after the world becomes too much.

will a solitary communion become obsolete  

          a vague recollection without true recognition.

will knowledge we’ve squirreled away lose relevance

          a sorry substitute for worldly experience—

Mary and me

          in four walls of imaginary armor

               and philosophical cul-de-sacs.