i want to tell you of the cold

the way it bites

i want to tell you of the cold. the way it bites. how it infiltrates every nook and corner of a life. cold makes us dust off the sleeping parts of ourselves and put them to work. there is little rest in the cold.

you will need every ounce of sisu you’ve got. my mother came from Finland and she taught me about sisu.. the way a frozen blanket which grips an entire country carves tenacity into the people who live there.

your hands will always be warm if a fire rages in your guts.

walking in Calgary / Nov 2025

the Finns have around forty different words for snow. in Norway, around 100 and the Inuit people have somewhere in the vicinity of fifty. apparently the Scots have 421, which i find hard to believe but everything we read on the internet is true - isn’t it?

in Canada we have fleeting summers, long and harsh winters. roads and horizons painted white, eyelashes become icicles, hoar frost crystallizes naked trees in otherworldly whimsy and ice. the cold teaches me of quiet beauty. of resilience. the cold is here regardless of how i feel.

looking up

i pull out my fleeces, my snow pants, my ski mitts and merino wool mask. base layers and parka, my thick socks and boots. ice clamps if the sidewalks have become skating rinks - can’t go outside without forty pounds of clothing, like battle armour.

all of these things humans need to survive the world, our inventions and tools. i look at my husky, descendant of wolves, outside just as she was born - and thriving. i shiver.

---

---

i’m forever grateful that you are here, choosing to read my words :)

♡ my books on amazon | signed copies | instagram | tiktok | youtube | goodreads | poetry prints | threads ♡

if you’re shy about becoming a paid member, but you want to do more than subscribe for free - you can always buy me a little trinket :) i also offer custom commissioned poems!

❅⛄✧˖°⛸️･:*:｡