Solstice Poetry Cycle: Welcoming the Spring Semester with Poetics

By Mike Degen

On Friday, January 19th, the Midnight Sun Visiting Writers Series hosted the first ever Solstice Poetry Cycle at the Schaible Auditorium. Twenty-nine poets from the Fairbanks area read one poem each.

The event was a roaring success, with 186 people attending in person and online via Zoom and Facebook. The event was the most attended CLA event of the academic year. 

Organizer Joe Holt praised the diversity of the event, which included local high school students, local teachers, UAF students, UAF alumni, UAF faculty and staff, and other members of the community.

The group included poets of varying experience including those that have been published in literary magazines, some with published collections, and others with work featured on television, as well as writers of fiction, nonfiction, musicians, and scientists.

The poems read also made many references to the solstice, Northern Lights, and winter. Some were about things completely different from the rest of the pack, while other poems focused on God, cooking, and skiing.

Most of them, of course, related to Alaskan experiences. One such poem was “Copper Canyon” by Raif Johnson-Kennedy, a local poet who has been performing for over twenty years.

Overall, the event was a roaring success, and collected a unique group of local poets. After the reading, books, Midnight Sun swag, and refreshments were available in the lobby where the poets intermingled with attendees. 

The Midnight Sun Visiting Writers Series plans on hosting several more events throughout the semester. The organization has been operating continuously since the 1970s and is an integral part of the Fairbanks literary scene.

Thank you Joe Holt and the rest of the organization for organizing the event.

The full list of poets follows:

Chelsea Anderson, Jean Anderson, Bukusai Ashagawa, Mary Ballard, Tayton Brice, Susan Campbell, Olivia Cole, Lucy Evans, Daryl Farmer, Elyse Guttenberg, Cindy Hardy, Tiumaluali’i Jody Marie Hassel, Carrie Heimer, KJ Janeschek, Curtis Jensen, Raif Johnson-Kennedy, Susheila Khera, Carolyn Kremers, Rosemary McGuire, Manuel A. Melendez, Noah Meierotto, Christopher Lee Miles, Ned Rozell, Linda Schandelmeier, Zeke Shomler, Susan Sugai, Margaret Swart, Cyndie Warbelow, Annie Wenstrup