He experienced a great loss
His wife
She jumped
Off of a building
May she rest in peace

He tried to help her
Pills and more pills

Why, why did she do it?
He must have asked himself
Driven
Far, far, away

Iceman goes
Goes into the wilderness
Of his native land

The biting cold
The sharp air
The plunge into
Deep waters of despair

He had dug a hole in the ice
And it was under the ice
That he swam
A rope secured him

His retina froze
And for a moment
He said he reached a deeper consciousness

He learned to manufacture
Adrenaline
Hyperventilating
And taking in more air
Than he let out

He has been in the HImalayas
In his shorts

And holds the world record
Of being able to be submerged
in icecold water
For two hours up to his neck

These are his records
But it is not for his records
That we should admire him

But for his desire to help others
Who had their own health problems
He helped them face their own problems

One man had cancer
He talked of how empowering this was
Not that he could be cured
But that he could do something now
To fight

And these people they jumped together
In the snow
In the freezing cold
In their shorts

And the interviewer
He climbed
He climbed with the iceman
Up the mountain
No shirt, just shorts
In the freezing cold

The iceman said it himself
It is love
He wanted to bring love
Through a strong body
And a strong mind
And this love that he showed
To people

Through his method
Empowered them
Strengthened them

I admire you iceman
And though
As a man of Tao
I would never hyperventilate
Or control my breath

I would venture into the cold with you
I would climb with you
Upon those mountains

I would swim with you
In the icy water

It would be good to know you
Good to know you

And as you suffered from loneliness
When your wife passed
I suffer from loneliness too

American life is so isolating

Maybe after we will share some tea together
You were right all along iceman
To show each other love

All we can do
On earth
This difficult place

Back in the 40's
We had an icebox at our cottage,
to keep our food cold.
It was an empty insulated box,
with shelves for the food,
and on the bottom sat the block of ice.
Once a week the iceman
would deliver a large block of ice.
I would always race on over our
little bridge to meet him.
It was like seeing the ice cream truck arrive.
The iceman would always ask me
if I wanted a chunk of ice...
I suppose it was standing there
in the heat with those
big puppy dog eyes that got him.
There was nothing that tasted as
good as a cold chunk of ice
on a hot summer day...
Unless...
it was a cold bottle
of chocolate cow pop...

Because I could not draft for Ice,
it did kindly draft for me.
Does the Ice make you shiver?
does it?

Pay attention to the chill,
the chill is the most shivering fear of all.
Down, down, down into the darkness of the chill,
Gently it goes - the chill, the trembling, the unsteady.

A thawing, however hard it tries,
Will always be Melting.
Does the thawing make you shiver?
does it?

The big winter sings like a Sun is directly above the Tropic of Capricorn
Now cosmic is just the thing,
To get me wondering if the winter is mature.

wooly glaciers sings like Iceburgs
"Rushing water", said the glaciers,
And "rushing water" then "rushing water" again.

How happy is the frozen popsicle!
Does the popsicle make you shiver?
does it?

The freezing that's really crystals,
Above all others is the frost.
Does the frost make you shiver?
does it?

Because I could not draft for Ice,
it did kindly draft for me.
Does the Ice make you shiver?
does it?

Because I could not draft for Ice,
it did kindly draft for me.
Ice, Ice, every where,
Yet not a drop to draft.

How happy is the cold surface!
Down, down, down into the darkness of the surface,
Gently it goes - the perfect, the gelid, the stone-cold.

Pay attention to the floe,
the floe is the most Dence ice mass of all.
Floe, floe, every where,
Yet not a drop to drift.

The thawing is like a gentle voice,
it tends to cause significantly.
Does the thawing make you shiver?
does it?

The athletic game that's really zany,
Above all others is the hockey.
Pause to assist, like the hockey does.
It does assist, it does draft,
Should it also induct?

Why would you think the snowfall is gradual?
the snowfall is the most sudden downfall of all.
Pause to last, like the snowfall does.
It does last, it does accumulate,
Should it also range?

I saw the the antarctic installation of my generation destroyed,
How I mourned the water.
I don't like the fact that it,
learned to reside before it knew how to flow.
You can reside, you can flow, but can you supply?

Because I could not draft for Ice,
it did kindly draft for me.
Does the Ice make you shiver?
does it?

Because I could not draft for Ice,
it did kindly draft for me.
Pause to draft, like the Ice does.

Don't belive that the snowfall is small?
the snowfall is big beyond belief.
Never forget the braggy and large-scale snowfall.

Pay attention to the cold,
the cold is the most wintry respiratory disease of all.
Are you upset by how springlike it is?
Does it tear you apart to see the cold so frozen?

I saw the the little demoralize of my generation destroyed,
How I mourned the chill.
Now small-scale is just the thing,
To get me wondering if the chill is trivial.

An iceman, however hard it tries,
Will always be cunning.
Are you upset by how adroit it is?
Does it tear you apart to see the iceman so attractive?

I saw the the Frozen excretion of my generation destroyed,
How I mourned the water.
Never forget the sleety and unchangeable water.

Pay attention to the freeze,
the freeze is the most Frozen fractals act of all.
Does the freeze make you shiver?
does it?

Because I could not draft for Ice,
they did kindly draft for me.
Do Ice make you shiver?
do they?

Smooth iceman
Sitting in the cinema
His hair rustled by the claps
And his identity is just in his clasps

Shadows flow
Echoing cries of the wolf
And then it's black, serpents
Strangulation and presents

Brought up to restrain
Beasts roam from the trainers

As the iceman
Sitting in the cinema
Regains power and steers
Turning back time, to simply reset

Before the wedding cake tiers
Slide and droop, they fall from tire
Falling to the end
The serpents came out of the den

As he was slipping, the iceman, the painter
Began on himself, to repaint

And the power of the anagram, endless

I kissed you goodbye that rainy night
Under the Tree in the Sacred Garden
Not realizing as I left for my flight
I would never see my lover again

The man who swore undying love
Would soon be gone and in his place
A cruel cold coward I never dreamed of
To cancel promises and plans erase

Was Iceman inside you ready to strike
If ever anyone got too close?
Tearing down trust and faith alike
Punishing me  for loving you most

I HAVE ransacked the encyclopedias
And slid my fingers among topics and titles
Looking for you.
  
And the answer comes slow.
There seems to be no answer.
  
I shall ask the next banana peddler the who and the why of it.
  
Or-the iceman with his iron tongs gripping a clear cube in summer sunlight-maybe he will know.

The Iceman Cometh

  Legend has it in the darkness,
In the freezing cold terror reigns
The nights are filled with fear
And ice is the blood in his veins

They say he comes down from the north
And he rejoices when the west wind blows
He is as evil as the Devil himself and he
Leaves death behind wherever he goes

You can hear him whisper in the wind
As the air rushes past your ear
You can feel his chill on your neck and spine
And all your senses tell you he’s near

You’ll be his next victim if you ignore
The warning signs I’ve explained
And nothing of you will be left behind
And everything will be bloodstained

He’s known as the black sheep son of old
Man winter and as temperatures plumeth
You can be sure that death is imminent
As the Iceman cometh

Written By: Charles Kean
Copyright © 02/14/2021
All rights reserved

written in midtown Manhattan while waiting for a bus, last year, and dedicated to anyone who has been cold latest lately.*

sustained winds
magic-make
20 degrees
feel like zero,
waiting for the M57 bus
that cannot
iceman cometh
soon enough.

bus shelter soldier
marching to and fro,
a guardsman on duty,
passing the he-waiting time
by dream reviving
last night's pastime,
secret activity,

like coffee cup
comet tail sips,
re-image, re engage,
re-heat just enough,
to temper and mind deceive.

recall dreams of painting,
the frame,
already hung,
the naked white wall,
blank canvas,
dreams are time to experiment.

what I paint, however,
extends beyond the frame,
the mind visions,
landslide down,
secreted colors,
images, born and lifted,
upward bound,
street steam rising,
from wall to sky,
letters float.

tho scarfed and gloved,
my painted words,
crisp and crackle,
boundary break,
extend beyond the frame.
wind-chill
tactile exterior defeated,
the burn
of mind creativity
succeeds.

Jan 24th 2013
2:42 AM

Six years I worked in a knitting mill at a machine
And then I married Jerry, the iceman, for a change.
He weighed 240 pounds, and could hold me,
Who weighed 105 pounds, outward easily with one hand.
He came home drunk and lay on me with the breath of stale
   beer
Blowing from him and jumbled talk that didn't mean anything.
I stood it two years and one hot night when I refused him
And he struck his bare fist against my nose so it bled,
I waited till he slept, took a revolver from a bureau drawer,
Placed the end of it to his head and pulled the trigger.
From the stone walls where I am incarcerated for the natural
   term
Of life, I proclaim I would do it again.