Chinook by George Hosier II - Breaking Up

Ah, Breakup! My favorite season of Alaska’s year. How oft during the tedious months of winter have I pined for these halcyon days? Now the time has come for long lost treasures to be relinquished from the icy talons of winter’s merciless grasp. Viruses, long dormant, can now be released into my bronchial passages to test the mettle of my immune system. The unyielding ground, softening beneath my feet, tenderly draws my finest dress shoes into its embrace until I find them enveloped in an undulating ocean of glistening mire, sloshing and gurgling in rapturous celebration of its emancipation.

My yard blossoms luxuriously with toilet paper tubes, discarded Kleenexes and utility bill stubs that had been sown to the arctic wind by a frostbitten raven rummaging for a snack in my burn barrel. These assorted relics of a bygone season had been imprisoned for five interminable months in the snowdrift that entombed them. As they unfurl to greet me now, I experience an unexpected surge of nostalgia. I look fondly down with a tremulous smile of reminiscence, my feet softly making rude noises in the goop of my yard.

To read the entire article please visit our Chinook pages.