Dave Kiffer - Alaskan Poet, Historian, Humorist

  A FICTION WRITER PENS HIS OBITUARY   (Copyright 2021, by Dave Kiffer)   "Start at the beginning,"   No bleep, Sherlock,  Except shouldn't I pick A midlife cliffhanger To draw them in and keep Them turning pages until They get to the end?   Right.   I die in the end, That's the spoiler, Especially for me.   "Write what you know."   Sounds easy, like falling off a bike Over and over again, I've been mining that lode My whole life - which it turns out Was not as long as I was counting on. Anyway, I'm not sure which diamonds are real And which ones are not, Anymore.   "Use realistic characters." Realism would be Writing about a man Sitting in a room With no windows No friends, no life, No story to tell, Except how he faced A blank page Every freaking day And then had lunch.   "Let the story tell itself."   I have always been a vessel, But a conscious one, The story comes to me But I still have To pull the strings. I am Geppetto. ...

  SOUTHEAST LOG 2-20-21   Always look down   HAINES - A Haines woman was apparently nipped on her backside by a black bear that was inside an outhouse when she went to use it last week. The woman was not seriously injured. Afterwards, another member of her party shined a flashlight into the toilet and saw the bear's face. THE CHILKAT VALLEY NEWS   Dream Cruises plans to sail SITKA - Allen Marines subsidiary Alaska Dream Cruises is moving ahead with plans to offers small ship cruises this summer. Alaska Dream ships are American built and do not have to meet the foreign visit requirements of federal law.  They are putting in COVID safety protocols for the season. THE DAILY SITKA SENTINEL Expected grant could vanish HAINES - Local officials are scrambling to find out if they can still get a COVID-related grant of $1.4 million that was announced in December but now may not come at all. The COVID grant was supposed to come to the community from Bartlett Hosp...

  By Dave Kiffer For the Daily News   (Published 2-20-21) Cecil Davis never visited Ketchikan in his 96 years on Earth. But the former B-29 bomber pilot spent many hours in "Ketchikan," far above the earth. Davis, who died on December 18, was the pilot for the "City of Ketchikan," a long-range bomber that took part in the World War II battles of Saipan and Okinawa toward the end of the war. Davis, a second lieutenant at the time, was one of the last remaining crewmembers on the "Ketchikan." The "City of Ketchikan" was named after the First City because the plane's commander, First Lieutenant Dick Brinck, had a strong connection to the city. Brinck was the son of longtime Ketchikan resident George Brinck. Dick Brinck was born in Anacortes, Washington in 1922. His mother died when he was young and his father remarried. Dick Brinck came to Ketchikan when he was 16 and finished high school here. He attended the University of Washing...

  LEGACY   (copyright 2011, by Dave Kiffer)   At my age My father had Five years left. Five years Of cheap beer And plentiful fish. But five years Nonetheless.   That thought Occurs to me as I stand in the bathroom at three am Contemplating Enlarged organs and weak stream.   That last night My father slipped Out of his bunk Padded across The fo'c'sle floor And thumped Into the dark Pilot house.   He peed loudly Into a silver Galvinized pail. It was only After the police Had finished up That I thought To empty it.

  THREE SHEETS TO THE WIND (Copyright 2017, by Dave Kiffer) One of my father's sayings, Always used to describe Someone else, who was Having trouble getting around   Someone who imbibed Immoderately, another phrase That Dad would pull out With the ease of a magician   As if he was flourishing The other guy’s weakness For all of us to admire, A drunk rabbit from a hat   Dad was very rarely Three sheets to the wind A highly functional drunk Who consumed more   In a day, than most men Did in a week, a serious Drinker who called New Year's Eve "amateur night"   But what is "three sheets?" Something about a bed? The more sheets you need The drunker you are?   Is it something we Measure in thread count? As if it could lead to A much softer fall?   No, it's about sailing, That wonderous gust When your life rises On step and flies       Or so it seems ...

  FAMILIAR OBITS IN THE ONCOMING LANE (copyright 2012, by Dave Kiffer)     Early on, they are detached Like so many freeway exits You never to take to towns You will never visit   But as you age, they Become the off-ramps To the circling ring roads Slightly more familiar   Finally, they overtake You on the highway As familiar as every step To your car and back

  Alaska Civil Rights Pioneer Elizabeth Peratrovich Celebrated By DAVE KIFFER February 17, 2018 Saturday AM (SitNews) Ketchikan, Alaska - Elizabeth Jean Wanamaker Peratrovich is often referred to as the Martin Luther King of Alaska, but the truth is she was fighting for equal rights for Alaska Natives a decade before Martin Luther King gained fame during the Civil Rights movement. Elizabeth Jean Wanamaker Peratrovich February 16th was designated as the first Elizabeth Peratrovich Day in 1988. Peratrovich was born on July 4, 1911 in Petersburg. Her Tlingit name was Kaaxgal.aat and she was of the Lukaax.adi clan of the Raven moiety, according to information from the Alaska Native Sisterhood. Her parents died when she was very young and she was adopted by Presbyterian missionaries Mary and Andrew Wanamaker. She attended school in Petersburg and Sitka and eventually graduated from high school in Ketchikan in 1931. One of her classmates was her future husband Roy Peratrovich of Klawock....

  RETURN TO TEN SLEEP (Copyright 2018, by Dave Kiffer)   Just a wide spot, on A lithe canyon road Dropping madly from Snow to dust   It’s a stop that is Equidistant On the journey From SE to NW   Or from NE To SW, it seems The center of A collapsing world   I am passing This point, on my way To a somewhere That is still obscured   I see a young woman With thick black hair, Waving her arms in A big hug from tomorrow   I swear I’ll get back, Maybe in a day or so, Twenty-six years on I’m still trying