Foggy, or: Clouded mind

Posted on by ben Alexander

Poetry Partners #20

‘Fog’, a poem by Steven S. Wallace of ‘There is no Stigmata’

Enveloping white
Fog covers the highway soft
Beyond and unknown.

Mist creeping along
Like a man in an alley
Lighting a cigarette.

Wafting from the west
As a persistent rumor
Travels through a crowd.

Shrouding the beyond
This inscrutable ghost friend
We who would be safe.

The Moon is away
The Sun too will be unseen
Nothing but nonlight.

The water is still
The eye connects the shoreline—
Nothing else is moving.

I cannot discern
Any meaning of the fog
Imperceptible.

A Golden Shovel Poem by ben Alexander of ‘The Skeptic’s Kaddish’

(in blank verse)

Exhaustion's rapidly enveloping
my mind; I stare but only see the white
glow from my computer, as my eyes fog
over; a massive, earthbound cloud covers
the room, impenetrable, blocking the
view through the window out to the highway,
though I can discern the persistent soft
sounds of rustling leaves and lone cars beyond
the walls of our apartment; I'm spent and
at this hour, I should cede to the unknown.

Let’s write poetry together!

When it comes to partnership, some humans can make their lives alone – it’s possible. But creatively, it’s more like painting: you can’t just use the same colours in every painting. It’s just not an option. You can’t take the same photograph every time and live with art forms with no differences.

–Ben Harper (b. 1969)

Would you like to create poetry with me and have a completed poem of yours featured here at the Skeptic’s Kaddish? I am very excited to have launched the ‘Poetry Partners’ initiative and am looking forward to meeting and creating with you… Check it out!

List of Poetry Partners

23 thoughts on “Foggy, or: Clouded mind”

  2. This is such an exciting exercise in creativity. I am sorely tempted to try to translate one of my very old poems (only three survived) and see what you do with it, David.
    Shabbat Shalom!

  4. Thank you for publishing and the Golden Shovel! I’m honored and proud. It’s really cool seeing what another does with something you do. I love your poem! You write, encourage, publish others and educate about forms. Really great stuff. Thank you and HNY!!

    1. 🤎 Lauren 🤎 – thank you!

      No, a Golden Shovel poem can use any line or lines from the other poem – I just opted to use the first stanza because the stanzas were all short, and it felt right to me.

      Much love,
      David

    2. Thank you! There is a poetry writing mood for me. It’s something between depressed and elated. 😂 Glad you found something you liked in both poems.☺️

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