Lew Watts

70º North

Hammerfest. Most northern town in the world. Home to a polar bear museum. Reindeer in the streets.  

midnight sun 
following the slow swing 
of a shadow 

My Norwegian buddy is still jitterbugging. We’re at an eldre disko, for older people, most of whom are drunk. I am sitting with our host’s mother, a youthful sixty-year-old with gray hair and a creased face. Her English is perfect, spoken in that wonderful sing-song manner. 

“So,” I say, “it’s wonderful now, but don’t the months of darkness get you down?” 

“Well,” she replies, tilting her head. “In the summer, there’s fishing and fucking. And in the winter, there’s no fishing.” 

three sheets to the wind . . . 
awakened by the scent 
of boiled seagull eggs 

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About the Author

Lew Watts is the haibun co-editor of Frogpond and the author of Tick-Tock (Snapshot Press, 2019), a haibun collection that received an Honorable Mention in the Haiku Society of America’s 2020 Merit Book Awards. His publications include the novel Marcel Malone and the poetry collection Lessons for Tangueros. He lives in Chicago.