The Fog as a Liminal Motif: Boundaries and Dissolution
The fog motif in Kakitsubata’s work operates as a liminal space where distinctions between past and present, self and other, clarity and obscurity collapse. Rather than a mere backdrop, fog actively participates in the poem’s interrogation of perception and identity. For example, in “With scissors out of the fog I cut out” With scissors out of the fog I cut out, fog is a material from which the speaker attempts to craft memories—“origami,” “intricate images / of the past”—yet this act involves “cutYou flip through days — behind them people, and somewhere far off, where emotional limits and personal space dissolve into “litres of wine,” a metaphor for intoxication or escapism. Fog here signals the collapse of clear boundaries, both external and internal.
Meaning and Interpretation of Fog in Kakitsubata’s Poems
Fog in Kakitsubata’s poetry may be read as the emblem of existential ambiguity. It is neither solely a symbol of confusion nor purely a veil to be lifted. Instead, fog mediates the tension between desire for clarity and the inevitability of obscurity. In “How beautifully you stand here, and you even make me” How beautifully you stand here, and you even make me, fog “left the instantly orphaned / gaps” in the tree’s crown, evoking loss and the erosion of memory—“scratched out by someone’s / rough hand.” The fog erases but also preserves absence, marking the places where identity and memory have been altered or erased.
Likewise, in “For hundreds of years one and the same question Who we really are” For hundreds of years one and the same question Who we really are, fog connects with “gloom” and “breath jammed / By your own / stupidity,” linking the motif to the internal fog of self-doubt and existential confusion. The speaker’s repeated questioning of identity—“Who we really are”—is shrouded in this fog, emphasizing how the motif embodies the opacity of self-knowledge.
Language, Imagery, and Literary Techniques in the Fog Motif
Kakitsubata’s language around fog is precise yet evocative, mixing tactile and visual imagery that captures fog’s dual nature as both obscuring and shaping. The metaphor of “cutting out origami” from fog in With scissors out of the fog I cut out uses a tactile, almost violent image to describe the attempt to impose form onto something inherently formless. This paradox underlines the poem’s meditation on memory and identity as fragile constructions.
The use of enjambment and line breaks, especially the middot ( ) pauses, often mirrors the fog’s disruptive effect. For instance, in “You flip through days — behind them people, and somewhere far off,” You flip through days — behind them people, and somewhere far off the break after “like a hive / lives stirred up,” suspends the image, creating a visual and rhythmic fog that unsettles the reader’s expectations and mirrors the poem’s thematic instability.
Sound patterns also contribute: the repeated “g” sounds in “gloom,” “game,” and “litres of wine” create a guttural undertone that evokes heaviness and confusion, reinforcing the motif’s emotional weight.
Form and Structure: How Fog Shapes Poetic Development
The poems featuring fog often resist linear narrative progression, instead unfolding through associative images and fragmented thoughts. This structural ambiguity parallels the motif’s thematic function: fog disrupts clarity, and the poems reflect this through their open, sometimes disjointed form.
For example, “With scissors out of the fog I cut out” With scissors out of the fog I cut out employs short, sharp lines that mimic the act of cutting and fragmenting, while “What a shameless one you are eating with an unwashed” What a shameless one you are eating with an unwashed juxtaposes seemingly mundane actions with surreal images (“greased / by grandfather / broken / skis”), creating a disorienting effect reminiscent of fog’s enveloping quality.
Tone, Voice, and Perspective in Relation to Fog
The speaker’s tone in fog-related poems oscillates between detachment, bewilderment, and a subdued urgency. The fog motif intensifies this tonal ambivalence by suspending definitive emotional responses. In “For hundreds of years one and the same question Who we really are” For hundreds of years one and the same question Who we really are, the tone is contemplative but also frustrated, as the speaker confronts the “blind / Short-sightedness / of a low-born mind,” a self-critical voice tangled in foggy uncertainty.
The perspective often feels introspective yet fragmented, as if the speaker is both inside and outside the fog simultaneously, struggling to articulate what remains elusive.
Contextualizing the Fog Motif within the Kakitsubata Corpus
Within the broader Kakitsubata corpus, fog recurs as a motif entwined with themes of time, loss, and identity. Its presence in poems from 2020 to 2025 indicates a sustained engagement with the motif as a conceptual anchor. The motif bridges personal memory (“origami,” “scratched out by someone’s / rough hand”) and existential questioning (“Who we really are”).
This continuity suggests that fog is central to Kakitsubata’s poetic project: a symbol of the human condition’s opacity and the challenge of finding meaning amid temporal and emotional dissolution.
Alternative Interpretations of the Fog Motif
While the fog primarily symbolizes instability and liminality, it could also be read as a protective veil that shields the speaker from harsh realities. The act of “cutting out” images from fog in With scissors out of the fog I cut out might be less about loss and more about creative transformation—shaping the intangible into something meaningful.
Alternatively, fog’s association with “litres of wine” and “dreaming rum” might imply intoxication or altered states of consciousness, suggesting that fog represents not only confusion but also a deliberate retreat from clarity.
Critical Review: The Fog’s Role in Kakitsubata’s Poetic Vision
The fog motif in Kakitsubata’s poetry offers a nuanced symbol that resists easy interpretation. Its recurring presence across poems ties the collection together thematically and formally, providing a lens through which the speaker’s fluctuating perceptions and identities are examined. The motif’s strength lies in its capacity to convey both the pain of fragmentation and the creative possibilities of ambiguity.
However, the motif’s opacity may challenge some readers, as its elusive nature demands active engagement and tolerance for ambiguity. This complexity is a deliberate feature, not a flaw, underscoring the poems’ existential concerns.
Conclusion
Andrey Kakitsubata’s use of the fog motif transcends mere atmosphere, functioning as a structural and thematic fulcrum that reflects the instability of memory, identity, and emotional clarity. By embodying liminal space where boundaries dissolve, fog reveals the poems’ preoccupation with the elusive nature of selfhood and the difficulty of imposing order on experience. This motif’s layered presence across the Kakitsubata corpus invites readers to confront the persistent tension between clarity and obscurity inherent in human consciousness.