A poem by Jan Fran: ‘Write it down, they say. You’ll feel better. But how to speak the unspeakable?’

‘Warm Enough is a poem that tries to capture the feeling of living in two parallel universes’: journalist and writer Jan Fran. Photograph: Monica Pronk

Warm Enough by Jan Fran

The question I ask myself the most is what temperature is my son
On the days we bake along the coast
I stare up at the sun
As it bears down on us
His cheeks pink, I think
What temperature is my son?
Perhaps he needs a hat