V
Judge Hodge’s Daughter
Young Alaskan Poet Wins Praise for Her Work
ANCHORAGE—At the Univer
sity of Washington, a girl who
was bom and grew up in Alaska
is rated as one of the finest poets
in her verse composition class.
The young poet is Margaret G.
Hodge, daughter of U.S. District
Judge Walter H. Hodge of the
Nome district.
Last semester Margaret got her
fourth A-plus in poetry. In the
next quarter she will study under
Theodore Raethke, one of Ameri
ca’s leading contemporary poets.
Bom in Cordova, Margaret
lived in the fishing town for ten
years. Much of her poetry reflects
the images, coloring and scenes of
Alaska..
Here are samples of the young
poet’s works.
EVERYTHING SEARCHING
A thrust of driftwood
Between water and wind
Slow-seeking the shore:
Restless camp coals
Looking from periscoped ~
Pine-knot eyes:
Beyond the campfire
A star coolly closer;
Waves touching out
For soft-swelled sand;
Wind for new tree-leaves;
Piers for the soft
Dark depth of the cove;
Love for words.
8
COUNTRY WIFE
Their tangled
Pasture land
Smooth-sorted down
For fall,
She can wait^
For him, 1
Easy
In their after place,
Flannel-haired
And round
' sleeveless brown,
Smiling,
Her eyes kitchen warm,
Molasses
Pumpkin pied.
WHY NOT BE A POET
The things I love need poetry.
I love the first rains
That shiver at open windows
Bringing new springs,
And the mood that music brings,
The creating of things,
Life, and the telling of it
It must be good to be a poet.
CHRISTMAS
Christmas is a wish, %
Fireplace-warm,
The way it feels inside
To hear a song,
Sleepy with fresh pine,
Orange, golden, cherry
With giving,
A soft wind waiting
From a new snow,
And a chance to love.
-I
SILENCE
When silence tensed
My voice into a whine,
I left along old
Roadways from our room.
Gravel wounds hollowed
Under my running
And round sorry nods
Of road lights slewed me.
I felt those old
Words of you around me.
They just stayed closer
When I shrugged them off.
The old ways turned me
When I ran from you
And led me to • the gauze
Of where you were.
FOLLOW NORTH
. Follow north
To glacier-studded,
Halibut-rich Alaska.
Roll with the foothills
Down jagged-cliffed
Mountain sides.
Catch king crab
That amble backward
Across the holds
Of fishing boats
And stare
With periscoped eyes.
Squirm with salmon
Up crimson streams.
Hover, breath wild,
Between yesterday
And today. •
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