AILSA CHANG, HOST:
When the northern lights dramatically lit up skies across the country earlier this month, poet Silas House was among those who were dazzled from below.
SILAS HOUSE: You know, we could see them just about a week ago.
CHANG: House is a former state poet laureate in Kentucky. His new volume of poetry touches on loss, natural disaster and the northern lights. NPR's Neda Ulaby has more.
NEDA ULABY, BYLINE: Silas House always thought you had to go to Iceland or Alaska to see the northern lights, but he saw them in Appalachia.
HOUSE: Living in the South, you never think you're going to see the northern lights from your own home. And here lately, we have been seeing the northern lights.
ULABY: The first time, a few years ago. They inspired this love poem.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
HOUSE: "Northern Lights." I longed for you before I knew you. That's what I always think when something like this happens. I never dreamt I would see them, especially from my own back porch right here in Kentucky. But there they are. The richest purple, glowing green, the blush of them, an undulating mystery as abstract as the enigma that brings two people into the same orbit. Here we are, watching them, together, and we always will be, even when we are nothing more than sky.
ULABY: And who is this love poem dedicated to?
HOUSE: Oh, this is for my husband. We've been together almost 20 years.
ULABY: The two of them were thrilled, he says, by the communal joy of seeing pictures of the northern lights on the news and social media. A much needed jolt, says Silas House, of wonder.
HOUSE: There are all kinds of different magics in our everyday lives. And, of course, I mean, as corny as it sounds, love is the biggest one of all.
ULABY: House's new collection of poetry is called "All These Ghosts." It came out in September. Neda Ulaby, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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