Living in the northern latitudes has its positives and negatives as do most things I suppose, and while 56 degrees north latitude isn't an extreme northern latitude, we still experience many of the same phenomena. Summertime in all parts of Alaska brings long days, days in which a person can have packed in a full day's worth of activity before noon and end the day feeling like you got two days rather than just one. These long days are earned though, earned by persevering through those short, dark, stormy days of winter. Even though the official beginning of winter comes in late December on the winter solstice, here in SEAK it feels like winter has been around for a couple months before its official beginning and while the passing of the winter solstice marks the beginning of increasing daylight, it takes another couple of months to really notice the lengthening days. Mid February is typically when the days are noticeably longer bringing a beginning sense of excitement and relief for the coming spring although the experienced Alaskan knows to not let their guard down until March has passed and sometimes April, and sometimes to even be a little cautious about May!
It would seem that the summer solstice in June would be more of a joyous occasion than the winter solstice - Midsummer, the longest day of the year, long days and pleasant nights - but the summer solstice already has a whisper of winter in it. Seasonal Affectedness Disorder, SAD, is a condition usually associated with winter, the winter blues, but I think there is also a summer version of SAD. The passing of the summer solstice is insidious in the sense that you know that this means the days will soon be getting shorter and it never fails that there will be someone you encounter who feels the need to verbalize this with some "I would love to slap you upside the head" comment like, "Well, summer's over, winter will be here soon" or "The days are getting shorter, winter is on the way". Just when it feels like summer has finally come for good and you can let your guard down and just enjoy the warmth and sun, that thought of shortening days opens the door to an awakening but very groggy sense of desperation.
Then the 4th of July comes and then goes and that groggy desperation fully opens its sleepy eyes and starts to get focused. Soon after the passing of the 4th of July comes deer season, then soon after that moose season, then much too soon after that winter comes walking down the road shaking the leaves from the trees.
But, it is still only July 3rd, no need to think about winter quite yet although I have just worked myself up and that desperation is now fully awake and is poking me in the shoulder asking when I'm going to cut more firewood, when am I going to do the wood stove and chimney maintenance I need to do, when am I going to go up the Stikine and get my yearly sockeye? Winter is coming!!
Why am I droning on and on about winter on the 3rd of July and trying to ignore that growing desperation? Because the fireweed is blooming!! Damn you fireweed!
What is fireweed? It's this awful wildflower.
Epilobium angustifolium, the Harbinger of Winter. That is not what its scientific name means, it's my name for it. It is a pretty flower and is a native flower that can grow in huge numbers across open areas, along roadsides, and in old forest fire burns which is what gave this plant its common name. Fireweed honey is particularly delicious and the leaves and flowers make a tasty tea high in Vitamin C. But, the first appearance of its flowers can bring a sense of foreboding - when I first saw them last week next to a road skirting a very scenic and peaceful lake offering a view of Virginia Peak in the distance and a compliment of beautiful yellow pond lily flowers on the lake's surface, the first stirrings of this poem came to my mind.
Please be warned - there are a few profanities coming up as this is a tongue in cheek poem attempting to convey the feelings those first fireweed flowers brought out in me. Just a few F bombs, nothing too vile!
FU Fireweed
Fuck you fireweed
Summer has only just begun yet there you are
petulant pink harbingers of autumn so soon
foretelling of summer's coming end.
There you stand so tall and proud so soon
after the solstice passing as if the knowledge
of the waning days wasn't lurking there in my mind.
Thoughts of winter's pallid bite lie there in your blooms
so vibrant and alive in the summer sunshine.
Fuck you fireweed
for intruding upon my summer's pleasures
and my willful ignorance of another winter's inevitability.
A cold hand brushes my neck when I see you there
feigning innocence, reveling in heat and light
while I shiver and vasoconstrict with frigid thoughts
May the hornworms feast on your foliage
and the bees rob you of your pollen
while the days get shorter and shorter and shorter
Fuck you fireweed you beautiful terrible omen
I hope that wasn't too terrible. My poetry may never have been the best and now it is also burdened by a thick layer of rust. Fireweed is very pretty and appreciated but it truly does bring with it a psychological component and a bit of a reminder of just how short summer can feel reminding one to not procrastinate summer things for too long.
This is a hornworm feasting on fireweed leaves. It is called a hornworm because of that reddish hornlike thing on its posterior end and is not a worm but the caterpillar stage of a hawkmoth. They are very fond of fireweed.
I guess that's enough about fireweed. My apologies for the heavy handed poetry and the F bombs but I hope it was worth your time!
