“New Year’s Eve”: Winter in a time of climate change…

This poem about winter in a time of climate change touches on the devastating fact that more frequent and severe natural disasters can and will cause entire communities to be displaced, leading, among many disturbing outcomes, to the loss of languages and cultures.  And the poem alludes to the idea of not appropriating the languages of other cultures.

The Inuit continuum of languages, still spoken today, has 40-50 words for different kinds of snow. https://www.k-international.com/blog/which-language-has-the-most-words-for-snow/.

In my poem, out of respect for this indigenous language, I did not use their word for softly falling snow.

Above is a clip from “New Year’s Eve,” which I read at @wordupbooks on October 23. Poets Patricia Brody, Lucille Lang Day, Alicia Ostriker, and I read poems inspired by the theme “Why Poetry Matters” in this challenging time. (October 2023 at Word Up Community Bookshop at Amsterdam & 165th St.)

“New Year’s Eve” (as “Snow on New Year’s Eve in the Anthropocene”)- appeared in Blue Line, Issue 40, Volume XL