On a dark winter morning Anchorage wakes,
Buzzing long before dawn breaks.
Twilight to sunbeam, black, orange, blue,
Daylight comes, the hours are few.
Street lights are glowing, night soon descending,
guiding us home after eight hours working.
Some say they want more of the sun,
some hardly notice with little or none.
Ice fog trees frosty,
gone now its gusty.
What a chinook, so wet and slippery,
Unsteady my foot, the fall wasn’t pretty
Rondy and races with red cheeked faces
The reindeer run, it’s so much fun.
March with bright morning
Spring memories restoring
Easter, pay taxes, honor mother and the fallen.
Snow melts, its secrets revealing
From this transition, odors releasing.
Icicled eaves and my it is windy
Gray is the sky, the streets are dusty
Cold rain, welcome weather, breathing is easier
Crisp air, it’s clearer, more snow came later
Chester Creek, Eagle River, their banks are higher
Pussy willows and Robins, summer is nearer,
Hidden from us, building all winter
So trashy we look so in our faces
This isn’t us, leave no traces
Hurry up all, clean up these places
Each night a bit shorter
When compared to December
Leaves emerging, tulips in flower
Spenard or downtown, this weekend a happening
Maybe I’ll go, but frugal my spending
The sun rises higher, days gaining hours
Is it just me, this room feels smaller?
That fever is serious and I know the cure,
Go camping and fishing, anywhere but here.
Alaska beckons, persuading migration
A great RV exodus on Seward and Glenn Highway.
Quiet our town if just for a moment
Thanks to the cabin on river, lake and ocean
Wandering spirit plus three day weekend
Muldoon to Sand Lake, I flew in a second
Those summer days, a driver’s oasis
Parking at Costco and roads open spaces.
Summer lingers, passing so quickly
Say those without homes, the weather is chilly
Fading light. Little by little
A week yes now, I notice a shadow
Mushrooms sprout, some dew in the morning,
Strong coffee, leaves falling. It feels like I’m dreaming
Palmer swells, Anchorage is bonded
Giving the fair a synergy of thousands
A cloudy day for school and hunting
Frost in the morning, warm coats we’re donning
Fly south the goose, snow bird, and tourist
Settle big bruin, for the long winters fasting
Turn white the fox, ptarmigan, and rabbit
Caribou travel, it must be their habit.
There on Flattop, that’s more than a dusting
Carved pumpkins so many, moose tire of munching
Oh dear, it’s snowing with crashes all over
I try to remember how I drove last October
A ravens warning, what a strange croaking
Lake Otis and Tudor is worth avoiding
A snow berm appears in driveway unwanted
I say to myself, I won’t be offended
That star on the mountain defies the cold
Under its light, holiday stories unfold
A new year today, it can’t be this soon
Although it is dawn and nearly
past noon.
Silly it seems what we remember
as Anchorage has grown another year older.
— William Beltz
Anchorage
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