"iceman" poems
I tromped across North America a few years back
Following the Mayan Elders
Listening to the powerful Lakota Brothers sing songs of mourning and joy
Building community
I was following a White Cherokee
We created clan
I was motivated by the teachings of the Anishinaabe
And represented Thunderbird Clan
We stopped in sacred spaces such as Serpent's Mound
And Cahokia Mounds
We peered briefly through the veil; Samhain
I followed the red path and eventually found I had always been on it
I met Hopi and Navajo elder's
And my friend Sea, a pipe carrier brewed a special tea
I was gifted tobacco that had been grown from seeds
Recovered from an iceman's medicine bag
She transmuted the ancient tobacco into a tea
By folding it into a sweetgrass and cedar brew
Sea gave it to me in a basic stainless steel carafe
Every time we drained the carafe
I refilled it and the essence was just as powerful as the previous brew
When I finally caught up with the Lakota brother's in Sedona
Their voices were raw
We all were
I shared the tea with them
So much magic on that journey
The joy on those brothers faces as the tea reached their throats
I gave them the carafe and told them
It was the gift that keeps on giving
Their thankfulness has been the gift that keeps on giving
Oct 5, 2014
Oct 5, 2014 at 11:48 PM UTC
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?
Apr 8, 2018
Apr 8, 2018 at 2:53 PM UTC
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
Apr 29, 2017
Apr 29, 2017 at 4:56 AM UTC
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.
2.2k
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.
1.7k
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
Jan 9, 2014
Jan 9, 2014 at 9:17 PM UTC
Dear Mr frosty your skin is sinking and your cold shoulders gather no feelings
"I think my skin is sinking into my bones" is what i said when i saw that iceman
Coming out of the ocean to freeze me in his arms
He would use his charm to get me there and when i was in place
he would stop my heart
So I could be a doll
Stuck and frozen
But I'm not your dolly Mr icy
An excuse me while I cry
I don't want you to see
You'd freez my plastic dolly tears and put them in your eyes
So that you might just know what it was like to cry
But you can't Mr iceman
You've got no feeling
That's why you're frozen friend
Wandering the world loney until you meet your end
So cold but you can't feel a thing
I wish i could say I have a good ending for this peom but i don't. Ice melted and i drowned in the sea
Apr 25, 2016
Apr 25, 2016 at 6:27 PM UTC
American restoration....
While watching the program
American Restoration
An icebox was brought in
To restore, into a wine cooler.
A young man who was helping
To restore it, was puzzled.
Where did the ice come from?
There were no cords
We oldies forget that young people
Never had to use an ICEBOX.
This is my memory of
"THE ICEBOX...."
It was an insulated metal box,
Just like the one being restored.
Once a week THE ICEMAN
Came out to our cottage
In a big Insulated Truck.
To deliver a big block of ice.
I was always so excited to see him
Because he would always chip off
A large piece of ice for me.
That was what kids now call
A Popsicle.
The iceman would carry in the block of ice
And put it in the icebox for my mom.
And that ice would keep our
Milk, meat and eggs
Cold for a week....
~~~~~
Let me add that American Restoration
Did a beautiful job
Turning the icebox into a wine cooler...
They added refrigeration,
Shelving, and a cord.
and the ICEBOX it was no more...
Mar 8, 2015
Mar 8, 2015 at 6:05 PM UTC
My feelings are always so powerful and unclear
These are feelings that will generate several types of fears
The way I feel is intense and full of emotion
Something you never considered until you sank my heart into the ocean
With chains and an anchor, down it all went
Shattered and cracked my feelings have never been more poorly spent
&& now you want to come back into my broken readjusted life?
Why don’t you just stay where you’re at and enjoy your new lovely wife
You think you can have your cake and eat it as well?
Why don’t you come on over so I can spoon feed you to hell
Because that’s what you want in the end, is it not?
You just want what you want and don’t want it to stop
But now you’ve realized that life isn’t a game
You were a player once but the player has now been played
So leave me out of all your negative misery you see
Because all of your insecurities are now well beneath me
If we ever really got together once more
I’d do injustice to you so fast, you’d feel completely ignored
And you won’t recognize my evil face
You won’t find that I left any kind of trace
So I suggest you be a man and know your rightful place.
Because your life became a lie and will always remain a disgrace
I'll forget about you soon enough though, hopefully after this one cife
I hope you watch me become a success and be an amazing mother and wife
To a man who deserves more than you should ever recieve again
I’m out of your cold world running as fast as I possibly can
I'm finally out of your cruel, restricting, forceful bare hands
So goodbye once and for all Mr. Cold Iceman
Jul 29, 2013
Jul 29, 2013 at 8:17 PM UTC
Hahah Really!?
Just because we err doesn't mean we dumb.
Or that we don't hear
It just means we fail
And lie.
Still victorious conquerors, more or less.
Some heir to dress.
You big G
Talk a walk with me
Follow or staulk it thats up your tree
But error is that flawfasee?
known one as religiously
Scaled eyes your puck stuckin suckin cant
see and im iceman ****
your deviliceofsee ....devise of demons indructreent but still I don't fluctypueight or punctuate till I say best the rest is your jokers test
Freewill defines who a joke and whos left right?
Im sorry. But judges get, not so nice. Cause
Old is light tenned frend bend matters it does to you jedi and saint tho too gamer and player show view. I switch from me and then back to you. But what order is up 2 you.
Good game yo ^-^ hope I showed love more than judgement...
Dec 13, 2014
Dec 13, 2014 at 4:05 AM UTC
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
Apr 18, 2014
Apr 18, 2014 at 3:44 PM UTC
With all this glacial melting, and our own East Coast meltdown from our latest blizzard, I wonder how many Neolithic mummies might be found entrapped within ice sheets floating along our Jersey shore? And could these preserved remains just be displaced homeless, men and likely women as well, whose failed luck at Atlantic City Casinos left them in strange circumstance of frozen time encapsulation, only to become part of a future archeological find? To whom and to what advanced scientific methods, or perhaps retrogressive scientific methodology, will these corpses be subjects of, if found a thousand years from now? Can we predict no mix up of modern and long former species of man?Just say for instance, some pristine specimen of iceman 3,000 years or older is floating in an iceberg, down from Western Greenland and past Nova Scotia in a tidal melt that finally brings it to a flooded non-moppable place ignored by a present day, though barbaric governor. Then said governor is ambushed by its distressed and recently homeless victims mobbing and mopping on icebergs and struck by mop heads, just as this Neolithic berg is floating by with its' ancient hunter/gatherer Popsicle in tow. Who might know the difference? What future generation might be able to clarify the difference between the two, or might they even care?
Jan 26, 2016
Jan 26, 2016 at 7:27 PM UTC
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...
Jun 17, 2014
Jun 17, 2014 at 6:17 AM UTC
and sometimes magic, a scene from the book
of genesis, chapter verse whatever,
buying whiskey and beer in a supermarket,
the cashier, Tara, knows me,
she's my gym coach,
she tut tut struts and tuts when i buy
beer telling me to keep the beer off -
i told you alcoholics are mobile,
we go sightseeing most of the time,
on a double decker bus we bemuse and
lipread: and here's the Elizabeth tower (formerly
known as Benjamin "big **** Disraeli -
the English by the French after the 100
year war: if they're not retards, they're perverts) -
**** that shit's brushed off on me! am i a **********
if i hold dear a British passport? phew! no? yes? huh?!
i must be a Mr. Khan in waiting...
no, but seriously, a scene in the cave of an iceman,
5 lasses buying wine lonely,
me my beer my whiskey,
i get a lemon added / **** i told you it was a lime not
a lemon on the conveyor belt -
i get a lime, lucky Adam got an apple
and one asking, i'm doing double-up fevers waiting
for Saturday night with Paris, Hilda, Venus and Hera..
Adam gets an apple from smooch slick Eva
naked and i get a ******* lime on a conveyor-belt
in a supermarket while buying whiskey...
Jonah! call the whale! i'm sure we'll both
be calling it Noah's ark when tomorrow comes;
**** you not, we'll be boarding dry-land at
Arsuk - **** send a message to Columbus -
we discovered North America via Greenland
like you discovered the same via the Caribbean Islands,
ha ha! call it dynamo of Erik versus Kristopheren;
i just got a lime on a conveyor belt in a supermarket,
Adam was handed an apple in Eden -
i guess that's worth a 50 50 chance of coincidence
with my sex-starved libido and the English "roses":
not that i'm guarantying anything good either,
it's not like i'm a vacuum cleaner based guarantee -
but **** me, the ****** **** wrinkles and all,
bamboozle clad the salutary march for applause -
and the fainting bearskin trumpet-brigadier at
the ro- -yal parade onto Buckingham Ponce;
n'ah n'ah n'ah n'ah n'ah.
Jun 24, 2016
Jun 24, 2016 at 6:44 PM UTC
--------
Obsessive compulsive disorder/
Reconstructed self-immolation ash/
Just add wattage/
Neuromance of old flame/
Crackling synapses going haywire/
Desire staging a hostile takeover/
Daywalker with the darkest impulses/
Do think twice/
Turn a pair of minds into a facemelter/
Mentalfund electrical fire/
Ballpoint pen to the socket/
Eyes sore from all this ugly fake light/
Life as migraine/
Iceman boiling chest heartburn/
If you don’t laugh, you cry ****** ******
Gimme ******** mania, & alienation/
Space invaders get shot down/
Everyone’s a narcissist/
Still got the white tongue/
Feverish nervous-energy teeth/
Zombie conscience/
Sick ******* thought brewery, everyday/
Distressed by the weight of the dunyaa/
Endurance test/
Holding on by a thread, in a needle/
In my head, that’s unravelling fast/
Flammable wickerman, having a blast.../
Allspark./
Sep 17, 2019
Sep 17, 2019 at 6:14 AM UTC
Upon reflecting with misty eyes
childhood days of yore
the mantle of anticipatory
excitement mantle I wore
upon advent of December
twenty fifth not quite threescore
years ago knew nothing
about being dirt poor
yours truly doggedly felt sense
of belonging among k9 korp
versus moody blues hangdog
look resembling Eeyore.
Now fast forward envisioning
gray bewhiskered scraggly
muttering old Unitarian
that would be yours truly courtesy
hyperbole as would be obvious
upon quick visual scan,
who dabbles writing
at least one poem within
twenty four hour
time frame i.e. quotidian
basis, eh not
so much an outdoorsman
these days and definitely not,
nor ever trumpeted
taps as militiaman
within the ranks of Kublai Khan
emperor of China, and
grandson of Genghis Khan
I remain holed up within
one bedroom apartment
unit b44 as iceman,
no, not by choice,
but series of unfortunate events
primarily faulty heater
at the mercy of fate,
a mere dice toss gameplan
always associated as separate
among establishmentarian
forever dreamily fancying
married to countrywoman,
combination platter academician.
Lo and behold days
mein kampf slipped and slid away
leaving faded memories
precious young lad oft times
felt alienated (think) castaway
yet simultaneously unable to flyaway
loosing self from mother's apron strings,
while slipping grip signals foray
into abyss conjured courtesy
thru information superhighway.
Reflection upon tempus fugit
incredulous kick **** lightspeed
precocious age sentimental reverie storybook
happy go lucky idyllic past indeed,
then bound by ignorance,
hence blissfulness no longer doth proceed.
Dec 25, 2019
Dec 25, 2019 at 2:28 PM UTC
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
Oct 8, 2015
Oct 8, 2015 at 8:53 PM UTC
He huddled in the woods,
In the trees, in the grass,
Clutching Spring to his *****
Damaged, cracking, his envy
Frozen in time, he knows
She cannot remain much longer.
The tighter he holds
The more she yearns
For her freedom.
Melting his lust to nothing
With a final lurch
She slips his frigid embrace.
She yawns. She stretches.
She breathes. And we,
The all-too human children
Craving her renewal
Believe in warmth again
And what it means to us.
Apr 20, 2018
Apr 20, 2018 at 1:16 PM UTC
Death winks at the
lilies that smile in
the rain.
He takes her.
The last ***** trick.
Watered drinks and
syphilis doesn't do the
patrons any good.
Too much grief for
placebos and madness.
Relief must come.
***** and fantasy just
bring sickness, and
licking frogs is
out of the question.
Pipe dreams ease the pain
if you smoke them slowly.
Watch the blue ghost curl
into the feeling fan.
This saloon is home for the
iceman.
So, buy me another drink,
and we can think about
doing it all
tomorrow.
Isn't that right, Mr. O'Neil?
Apr 13, 2025
Apr 13, 2025 at 6:19 PM UTC