by Meg Freer
The Role of Fog in the Dendrology of Sequoia sempervirens
The Pacific contributions of early morning
fog matter not to sand or sanderlings,
skittering back and forth in keeping
with the incessant rush and retreat
of foam. The earnestness with which
the fog seals the tiny birds as they feed
in moist dim light is irrelevant. Nor does
the fog’s tenacity in the face of looming
cliffs arrest the frenzy of probing beaks.
All manner of miniscule annelids are to be
swiftly consumed, fog or no fog. Hushed,
hushed waves may be combing the shore;
they do not pause, are blind to the binding
fog. It is an hour past dawn, time to eat
and be eaten. The fog comes in, it stays. But
the arresting drama of this thick young day
is taking place far above the misty
reaches of the beach, far above the minute
tracks of avid sanderlings, far above
imposing escarpments that stand guard
in densest weathers. Giant walls of fog
march in from the sea to meet a landborn destiny
—the oldest of living trees. Invisibly do those coastal
flora grandly swallow that lush moisture whole.
Fog does its timely ancient duty to sequoia,
who grow another ring around their thousands.
Karla Linn Merrifield has had 1000+ poems appear in dozens of journals and anthologies. She has 16 books to her credit. Her newest poetry collection, My Body the Guitar, nominated for the 2022 National Book Award, was inspired by famous guitarists and their guitars and published in December 2021 by Before Your Quiet Eyes Publications Holograph Series (Rochester, NY). She is a frequent contributor to The Songs of Eretz Poetry Review. Web site: https://www.karlalinnmerrifield.org/; blog at https://karlalinnmerrifeld.wordpress.com/; Twitter and Facebook.
Meg Freer is an award-winning poet and piano teacher in Ontario, where she enjoys the outdoors year-round. She has published two poetry chapbooks and holds a Graduate Certificate with Distinction in Creative Writing from Toronto’s Humber School of Writers. She keeps visual images in her head for a long time and her inspiration for poetry and photography often comes from intriguing juxtapositions, clusters and angles in both the human and the natural world. Highlights of her published work can be found on her Facebook page.