Everyday Canvas

Fog and Mist

Prompt: Write about fog and mist in your Blog entry today.

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Where I live, mist and fog are casual occurrences. The morning mist lifts early and quickly enough, but I'm not too fond of fog, although it happens somewhat rarely. Fog during the rush hour is scary. Imagine driving through a veil at five or ten miles an hour seeing only the parts of the other vehicles on the road.

Yet, the presence of fog and mist can bring on a bounty of emotions and ideas, as they offer metaphors, symbols, and settings in my imagination. One of those symbols is uncertainty or, sometimes, obscurity. I mean you know there is something there as a faint idea but you can't figure out what it is.

Another metaphor or symbol could be isolation as I feel disconnected since my sight is blocked. On the other hand, this may be a backdrop for introspective or contemplative words or sentences or, if I am lucky, maybe a story or two.

In addition, mist or fog can set the mood for what I write or more so, what any better insightful author can write. For example, Dickens raises this to an art form in his enhanced descriptive imagery in Bleak House:

"Fog everywhere. Fog up the river, where it flows among green aits and meadows; fog down the river, where it rolls defiled among the tiers of shipping and the waterside pollutions of a great (and dirty) city. Fog on the Essex marshes, fog on the Kentish heights. Fog creeping into the cabooses of collier-brigs; fog lying out on the yards and hovering in the rigging of great ships; fog drooping on the gunwales of barges and small boats. Fog in the eyes and throats of ancient Greenwich pensioners, wheezing by the firesides of their wards; fog in the stem and bowl of the afternoon pipe of the wrathful skipper, down in his close cabin; fog cruelly pinching the toes and fingers of his shivering little ‘prentice boy on deck."

As in the above quote, there are parallels between foggy land and sea scapes and characters facing life's struggles and challenges. As such, the effects of mist and fog can help explore a wide range of themes and emotions for all writers.

As for me, in my puny real life, I like to see things clearly.


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