Haku, Anna Hiltner

it to rain 

all the time 

I would move to Southeast Alaska 

and live in Wrangell where

I would wear True Tuf 

rubber boots and call them tennis shoes

while watching Orca cavort in Zimovia Strait 

and catch fresh Coho Salmon

at the mouth of the Stikine River 

from the stern of a 20 foot skiff,

eat Lemon Sole and 

fresh shrimp hastily cooked

after just being dumped on deck

 after winching the trawling net

 up from the ocean floor

having put the water on the stove to boil 

when we left the docks, 

so we could clean the skillets 

and boil the catch,

if I wanted it to rain.

About the Author

Scotty Sexton · UAF

Scotty Sexton was born and raised in Idaho, moved to Fairbanks in 1967, and graduated, with a degree in Philosophy, from UAF in 1975. Scotty worked as a land surveyor for the State of Alaska DOT for 40 years but, after retirement, has returned to UAF to pursue his love of writing.

About the Artist

Anna Hiltner · Princeton University

Anna Hiltner ’23 is a sophomore at Princeton University. After taking a gap year in Bolivia, she is studying sociology, Latin American studies, and journalism. Her piece “Haku”, or “let’s go” in Quechua, was taken in Cochabamba, Bolivia on the Día de los Peatones. The Día de los Peatones, or “day of the pedestrians” is a national holiday when no cars are allowed, leaving pedestrians and bicyclists to take over the streets. This piece first appeared in The Nassau Literary Review.