“An Alaskan Moment” for December 21st, 2020
Download or Stream “An Alaskan Moment” for the week of December 21st, 2020.
https://apradio.org/mp3/2020-12-21-analaskanmoment.mp3
Today is Monday, December 21st, 2020
Welcome to
“An Alaskan Moment”
from Aleutian Peninsula Broadcasting in Sand Point
This week in Alaska History:
December 21, 1906 – The first message was sent via submarine cable between Juneau and Wrangell.
December 22, 1919 – The trading store of the Sons of Norway at Petersburg was destroyed by fire.
December 23, 1946 – The Auke Bay post office near Juneau opened for business.
December 24, 1906 – Ketchikan received telegraphic service by submarine cable.
December 25, 1929 – The U.S. Army Signal Corps radio station at Nome was destroyed by fire.
December 26, 1946 – Dr. Raymond Banister and Harold Roth disappeared after flying from Seward.
December 27, 1911 – The American halibut fishing steamer Grant, a former Revenue Cutter, was wrecked on Banks Island in British Columbia.
Now for your poem.
John Straley was Alaska’s twelfth Poet Laureate, serving from October 2006 until September 2008.
“EVERY SINGLE DAY”
by JOHN STRALEY
(After Raymond Carver’s Hummingbird)
Suppose I said the word “springtime”
and I wrote the words “king salmon”
on a piece of paper
and mailed it to you.
When you opened it
would you remember that afternoon we spent
together in the yellow boat
when the early whales were feeding
and we caught our first fish of the year?
Or would you remember that time off Cape Flattery
when you were a little girl:
your father smoking, telling stories as he ran the boat,
then the tug and zing of that very first fish
spooling off into the gray-green world;
you laughing and brushing back your hair
before setting the hook?
I know I am hard to understand sometimes
particularly when you are standing
at the post office with only a piece of paper
saying “king salmon” on it
but just think of it as a promissory note
and that electric tug, that thrill
pulling your mind into deep water
is how I feel about you every,
single day.