Fairbanks - Sky magic

Editors' note: We asked 14 of Alaska's best writers spread across the state — from Tenakee Springs to Dutch Harbor to Utqiagvik — to grapple with a question we all face in our lives: Why do I live where I live? This piece is part of that collection.

FAIRBANKS — The first thing that struck me as our new friends, the Tabberts, drove us in from the Fairbanks airport was the sky. The sweep of it opened my eyes and filled my lungs. Coming from the East Coast, I was used to overarching maples and oaks, tall buildings, heavy clouds pressing down. But here, the sky spread like an ocean of air. And so it found its way into the first poem I wrote after getting here:

the sky                           the sky                           the sky

as wide as that, a cold blue sail …

We came with our 4-month-old son and a cat named Biddy. My wife, a musician and music teacher, joined the Fairbanks Symphony. She plays in it still. My appointment at the university was for one year. An adventure, we thought. That year has turned into four decades.

The other morning, I woke to a sky full of violet, orange and several other off-the-chart shades, which lit up the Alaska Range on the horizon and were reflected in the icy waters of the Tanana River.

I often write poems sitting on a ledge above that river. I just sit and wait for things to happen and words to come. They generally do. There's a spiritual element found in certain places, and for me, Fairbanks has it. Last night I woke to pink and green auroral lights rippling in front of the stately stars of Orion brilliant overhead. Call it sky magic.

John Morgan, professor emeritus at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, is the author of six books of poetry, including "Spear-Fishing on the Chatanika: New and Selected Poems."