The Ice Road

Miles of nothingness       Across open frozen lakes
Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk       The Mackenzie River
Parts of the Arctic Ocean       The distant oil rigs,
World’s most desolate spot       Ninety grand in 3 months,
Before the melt       A convoy of six trucks, burning
With loads, 40 below       Speeding causes waves,
Blow out the ice       Swallow us       I’m the leader,
Hauling 22 tons, my Kenworth T800 Aerocab Sleeper
A plate of steel in front in case of moose       In this wasteland
Anything can kill–Fatigue, equipment failure, avalanches,
Frost heaves, white out       Ice always cracks
In one month this will end       Elk National Park, I’ll take
The family       My wife and girls kayak       I’ll sleep in, tee off
It’s night now       A dark shape approaches       A big rig
Submerged in the ice, frozen in place       Wonder if
He fell asleep       I remember the Park       Dusk, a late spring
Snow       We were watching the snowflakes land       My daughter
Pointed and said they were stars napping

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Matt Bialer

MATT BIALER is the author of 17 collections of poetry ASCENT and WONDER WEAVERS (Bizarro Pulp Press (JournalStone), FORMATION (Weirdo Magnet), DISTANT SHORES (Villipede Publications), THE VALLEY OF THE RIGHT and THIRD EYE OF THE INNER LIGHT (Leaky Boot Press).His poems have appeared in many print and online journals including Retort, Le Zaporogue, Green Mountains Review, Gobbet, Forklift Ohio, and H_NGM_N. In addition, Matt is an acclaimed black and white street photographer who has exhibited his work widely. Some of his images are in the permanent collections of The Brooklyn Museum, The Museum of the City of New York and The New York Public Library. He is also an accomplished watercolor landscape painter with work in many private collections.

Latest posts by Matt Bialer (see all)

• More Things I Would Tell You - February 20, 2020
• Third Eye of the Inner Light - May 21, 2018
• The Tillinghast Machine - December 20, 2014