Seven Words for Wind
Heather Wiedenhoft
The wind whipped snow was starting to pile up, reaching towards the second level of the hotel. It was beginning to fill in the faint squares of my only view out, a window aglow with the northern lights dancing in the skies over an otherwise black Bering Sea.
I imagined all of the paths that had merged to bring me here, to the edge of the world, in winter.
Outside the blowing cold was so intense it burnt the nostrils when you breathed. The Aleuts on these far-flung islands have at least seven different words for wind and its intensity and force as it wails over their small pieces of land, growing stronger at sea.
It was less than a week yet more than a day ago I was in my warm, bright living room, dancing to the guitar whines of Sleater-Kinney. Snorting at my friend galloping about the room trying to make me laugh, cheer me up. At home in the moist and vibrant embrace of the Pacific Northwest. Remembering the acrid smell of crushed pine needles on the wet sidewalks.
You name what is most important to you. For me the wind was not important. On the surface I was here to work, like the majority of people that called this place a temporary home. To touch slimy scaly flesh, sort soft sea creatures as they travelled down the belts from the huge rusting fishing boats. Fish stink permeated me, my clothes, my unholy thoughts. Of you.
Because the real reason I found myself here… was to forget your name.
Images of the Aleutian Islands provided by the author, Heather Wiedenhoft
Heather Wiedenhoft
Heather Wiedenhoft is a journalist and freelance writer. Born and raised in Seattle, she is a graduate student in the multimedia journalism program at the University of Oregon. As a member of the LGBTQ community, Heather wrote an investigative piece on the significance of drag king culture in her life and the lives of other queer youth for Oregon Humanities. Published in numerous environmental magazines, Heather has begun to explore non-fiction writing and enjoys the creative freedom of lyric essays and poetry.