Dave Kiffer - Alaskan Poet, Historian, Humorist

  EVERYONE DIES IN THE END Buzzkill #1 That plot's like Day-old scramble, Rubbery and flat, Unresurrectable. Buzzkill #2 Too many Optimists, too little kapok, In the boat. Buzzzkill #3 A moral compass hand Can serve as a knife, Cutting both egg And flotation. Buzzkill #4 If we started At the end We could save So much time.

  INDEPENDENCE DAY We shoot these colors, Maniacally, into the sky, Crackling talismans To light the path And shield our steps, To send our demons Running headlong Across the night. But eventually The embers fade, The echoing thunder Rumbles down, The darkness lives on, Until dawn.

  RSVP Oh. My. God, He's marrying his mother. Not literally, of course. That is just not done. But he found a girl With his mother’s chin, With her pear shape, With that lilt in her voice. And He's Marrying  Her. I always thought You needed an opposite. That yin to the yang For self completion. Not something that is Already half you, Already more familiar Than your own breath. Apparently sometimes Someone seeks out a mirror, Perhaps he has the hair line, Of her father.

  REPAIRS My father Never had a tool chest That I remember. It seemed The whole basement, Was a Red Craftsman. There were wrenches And pliers and screwdrivers Everywhere. There were drills, Ratchets and hammers A million saw blades. Yet, there was Organization in the piled Work benches. He knew where Everything's place was More or less. Woe be it If you moved Anything. Or forgot Where it went after You used it. And here I stand In the tool chest aisle Of the Big Box. I ponder how Turning sixty means You need stuff. As if just The right hammer Could pound old age Flat enough To fit into a drawer Meant for a 1/4 combo. But there is so Much that needs fixing, Replacing. There is so much repairing, So much breaking down, That tools cannot fix.

  POOLING WITH THE ILLUMINATI Salmon are not biolumes. Unlike the lanternfish, Radiant in their eyes, They do not Light their own path. Which is a shame When I imagine a parade Across the empty ocean Like a night freeway Pregnant with cars. And I dream the beauty Of an illuminated stream Fat with the trembling fish Each holding its own candle To the dark of the weir. It is we, who light the salmon, In the same way we Anthropomorphize Their frantic dance Past our lines and nets We envision a power, A drive far beyond our own. Even though it is No more intentional to them Than our breath is to us. Still, we envy their parade. And we gawk at their pooling. We cheer as they leap falls That we would never  Be able to master. We ascribe no fear of death As if they knew what awaits And we ponder our own voyage With its turns and its digressions, Along a path, unlit, to its end.

  93 Years in The First City! Merta Smith Kiffer, my mother, would have turned 100 on July 26. Not that she wanted to live that long, she often said that 90 was about right. But she made it to 93 and not many people have lived in Ketchikan for more than nine decades. That's why her story is worth telling. It is a story of Ketchikan. She was born on July 26, 1921, in a small house that still stands on Freeman Street next to Ketchikan Creek. Her grandfather, James Allen Hart, was a miner who had come to the area in 1894 and staked claims from Prince of Wales to the Unuk River to the Klondike.  He also managed the Schoenbar mine for several years and served on the Ketchikan City Council as well as town public works director. Shortly before the turn of the 20th century he brought his family north to join him in Alaska. Merta was named - sort of - after his wife Mertie, her grandmother Hart's daughter Edna grew up in Ketchikan and married Paul Smith...

  " Off The Rock Again " Wow, I just traveled South and back, and boy am I out of shape. No, this isn't the old joke about flying in from Seattle and "boy are my arms tired." Although that it is part of it.  When you don't travel for a while, you forget how tiring it is. No plane ever seems to leave Ketchikan a decent hour. More often than not you are rousing yourself in the pre-dawn darkness so you can get to the ferry - and wait - and the n get to the terminal - and wait - and go through security - and wait some more - before your flight. Zzzzzzzzz. Yes, this isn't as bad as having to get to the airports down South or up North waaaaaaaay early because you have no idea whether the TSA line is 10 minutes or 10 miles long. The re is really no such thing as a long TSA line in Ketchikan. Although going South this time, I did find myself in line behind some people who were having trouble accessing the ir no...

  Shortly after the July 4th holiday, a long chapter in Ketchikan's history will come to a close when Jim and Connie Wingren move to Iowa. The move has been in the works for a couple of years as the Wingren's pondered being closer to family and the medical care that Jim needs. In July, they will be relocating to Ankeny, Iowa, near their daughter Rebecca. It will also be within driving distance of many of Connie's upper Midwest relatives. They are having a new home built in a development for people 55 and up. "No more stairs," Jim said recently. "And no more three-day trips to Seattle just for a 20-minute doctor appointment." Jim was born in Ketchikan in 1945 and Connie has lived here for 54 years, that's 125+ years in the First City. In that time, they have operated a long-time local store and had a long career in education. Jim also served on the Ketchikan City Council. Jim's grandfather, T.W. Gaffney, moved from the Dakotas to Nome ...

  SOUTHEAST LOG 7-24-21 Time's up, in BC! PRINCE RUPERT - If you think time moves too slowly, head over to Northwest BC, where an increase in electrical power coming from area mines has boosted the hertz level .5 percent. That means that area clocks are running 18 seconds an hour faster, at least for the time being. THE PRINCE RUPERT NORTHERN VIEW Getting their money's worth PETERSBURG - The Crystal Lake hydro generator needs $9 million in repairs. The generator, which was built in the 1920s, was last updated in 1957. THE PETERSBURG PILOT They all scream for ice cream JUNEAU - Cathy Mendoza is bringing joy to the streets of Juneau. In June, Mendoza began operating the first ice cream truck in the community since the 1980s. THE JUNEAU EMPIRE New library under construction THORNE BAY - Thorne Bay's new library building is under construction. In Auburn, Washington! It has taken a decade to come up with the funds for th...

  SOUTHEAST LOG 7-17-21 You say 'LeConte' and I say... PETERSBURG - Residents can't agree on the pronunciation of "LeConte" as in the glacier. But in 1962, a relative of the namesake of the glacier, geologist Joseph LeConte, visited town and told the Petersburg Press that the ending "e" is indeed silent. THE PETERSBURG PILOT Administrator resigns THORNE BAY - The community is looking for a new city administrator after Les Carter resigned in early June. City Clerk Teri Feibel is the acting administrator. THE PRINCE OF WALES ISLAND POST Miss Alaska developing show JUNEAU - Alyssa London, Miss Alaska in 2017, is continuing on her mission to tell accurate stories of contemporary Native life. The Southeast Tlingit Native is part of a group developing a series of programs called "Culture Story." The project is supported by Alaska Airlines, Sealaska and the Alaska Humanities Forum among others. THE JUNEAU EMPIRE Fire fines to top $1,00...

  SOUTHEAST LOG 7-10-21 A different game, he should play SKAGWAY - The Yoda of the Borough Assembly, Vice Mayor Steve Burnham Jr.  has resigned from the assembly. His resignation letter was brief.  "At an end my time on assembly is, and not short enough was it." THE SKAGWAY NEWS Travel ban lifted HAIDA GWAII - The ban on visitor travel to the islands was lifted on July 1. Officials said that between 75 and 80 percent of the island residents have been vaccinated and that is why the travel ban from March of 2020 is no longer necessary. THE HAIDA GWAII OBSERVER New heliskiing firm turned down HAINES - The borough has denied a permit application for a new operation from an Idaho company. The existing companies say there isn't enough room for more companies in the market. THE CHILKAT VALLEY NEWS Hot, but not too hot PRINCE RUPERT - The community had its hottest June 28 ever when the thermometer topped 24 degrees centigrade  (76 fahrenheit) but it fell sho...

  SOUTHEAST LOG 7-3-21 Noise regs apply PRINCE RUPERT - Turns out that some property in the Graham Street area is not owned by the Federal Government after all. Why does that matter? Since the land is owned by the city, the city can begin enforcing local noise abatement laws on the railway traffic on the property. THE PRINCE RUPERT NORTHERN VIEW No more 'yurt sweet yurt?' HAINES - The Borough Assembly is considering whether to ban the use of yurts as permanent homes in the city. The Planning Commission recently recommended changing the zoning rules to prevent the practice. THE CHILKAT VALLEY NEWS Homeless cabins still planned SITKA - The Sitka Homeless Coalition is moving ahead with plans to build a group of small cabins to house the local homeless population. The cabins would be built on Alaska Mental Health Lands Trust land at the end of Jarvis Street. THE DAILY SITKA SENTINEL Senior Center reopens WRANGELL - For the first time in 15 months, the Wrangell Seni...