Fog
That first milk fog we splashed through
on our way to school. The world stretched,
finding familiar corners in a different place.
Parting and joining,
our voices binding us
like elastic between mittens.
An O Level Field Trip. Heads spinning
with the Latin of marine life. Tongues
and fingers greasy sharp with chips.
The fog that flopped on the coast,
shrouded us by the wall, salted exposed flesh,
until we drew close enough to expel it.
Our honeymoon fog. Filmy on our skin,
smelling of earth. The cable car bringing us
into spring air with pleats of yellow sunbeams
meeting the glacier glare. Stumbling to tell each other
what we saw, the mist that circled the mountain
like a halo, or a hoop on a hoopla stall.
San Francisco. A fog that helter-skeltered
from the road side slopes,
that whirled around us
like a dancer’s tulle. Us, buoyed by it,
laughing as the golden gate bridge
faded to an orange H, branded in the air.
That more recent fog on the M62,
lying like a blanket between cars.
And I was cosy as bed,
humming an old tune, noticing how the beads
of sodium light dimpled the fog like quilting.
You were silent, fixed on the road.
And now I search for you in this London fog.
It shrouds me, winds round my tonsils,
sharp and sulphurous as I call your name.
My voice, transposed from home,
sounds thick and flat, is felted by the yellow folds.
I am cold, unheard. Growing hoarse.
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