"Battlefield of Love" is some kind of good poetry from a few
days - no, a few weeks - ago. Here is something that I have
written recently that may have a few poetic techniques in
it. Enjoy.

THE ICE WOMAN

     "Everybody all right back there?" The pilot questioned
his crew, which was made up of m dad, a young man, and me,
with his mighty southern accent. The pilot was a stout,
bearded man. A striped tie that was tucked under his jacket
ever so neatly and round eyeglasses that magnified his
pupils finished the look of a rich elf.
     "Yes," the young man replied.
     "YES!" my dad hollered (which truly embarrassed me).
     "Yes..." I groaned, yawning so much that my eyes became
a wet, fogged-up ball. Luckily, the pilot didn't hear the
hitch in my voice, and kept looking forward with his bright,
yellow smile.

     I was as worried as i was excited. The four of us were
in a cherry-colored helicopter. You wouldn't look twice at
the elegant figure and expect that it would take a long trip
across the city of Ketchikan, Alaska, in order to read the
highest and greatest glacier of all time...but that was our
goal.
     Throughout the ride, the pilot kept flashing facts at
us about Ketchikan and the overall Alaskan environment. I
was half-listening, staring blankly at his jabbering mouth.
The other half of me was wandering off into another world,
flashing questions to itself instead of answers. Why did my
dad force me to go on a GLACIER? What if I don't survive? I
knew that it was going to be a long and horrible ride.

     My cheeks were squished intensely against the cold,
glossy windows as my eyes shifted to the outside world.
Ketchikan was like a snowglobe; any person, genius or total
dweeb, could look at the plain, minuscule city for the
longest time and still not understand every single detail.
The tiny town that lay beneath us was a clutter of
gingerbread houses. The large mountains that I carefully
observed were the majestic view that the "Gingerbread
People" loved all their lives. Finally, the clouds in the
sky were a soft wool blanket, tucking the world away from
the harmful sun.
     Oh, how I wanted to touch such an attractive world, but
it was only a moment, and before the blink of an eye it
would disappear. As the dream faded away, I felt out
sickening descent onto the glacier. The whole view changed
completely, from the peaceful snowglobe landscape to a sea
of blue ice that looked like defected bubble wrap. All of
the worried feelings that came to me at the beginning of the
ride returned when I least wanted it to come.

     "Okay, folks, we're landing!" the pilot shouted as if
he were President of the united States. I wanted to laugh
out loud, but I held it in as hard as I could.
     When the helicopter FINALLY stopped whirring and
whirring, the pilot handed each of us extra socks, a hiking
stick, and five puffy jackets. "When y'all get older," the
pilot whispered to me suddenly, "and yer pants are as tight
as mine, you can't put bric-a-brac in a knickknack box no
more, especially in this weather, or else it'll freeze 'em
up just like that." He snapped his fingers so that it
sounded like he just dropped a textbook from a 30-story
building. "So those jackets right there are just some extra
places to put your cellphone and all, ya har?" For some
reason, the man turned to me and winked the kind of winks
you see in the movies. It sure was scary to me.

     I almost stumbled when I took my first step onto the
glacier. For some reason, even through the thick, mushy
soles of my hiking boots I could feel the frigidity of the
ground. Luckily, my hiking stick lunged forward and held me
in place - just before I fell headfirst onto the ground.
     As I walked across the glacier, I spotted a few gaps in
the floor. They were probably about 60 feet deep or more,
and they led to anywhere you could imagine but here. It was
like we were in a virtual video game, and if you died in
this game, you died for real. The farthest thing from my
mind at that time was to go forward even a tiny baby step,
but a feeling that felt like a stab in the back of my head
forced me to move on.
     I was suddenly reminded of a book I read about a
5000-year-old skeleton that was nicknamed Otzi the Iceman.
He died in the Alps while hiking because he failed to find
food, shelter, and water before he got killed. A few
modern-day hikers found him buried under a huge pile of
snow. I shuddered the moment I thought of that. Would I go
up, find shelter, and live peacefully with the wolves if I
got lost? Or will i die just as the Iceman did and become
the Icewoman instead?

     Our tour guide Sharon explained a few parts about the
glacier. "This is a frozen pool that was discovered in the
mid-1900s by Alaskan archaeologists. Although it is
currently empty, it held many artifacts of the far past that
assisted scientists about our state's strange reputation and
history. People used to think that the glaciers were a
shrine made of marine-blue marble that shone on the birth
date of God..."
     What else she said I never knew, but suddenly I made a
new decision.
     I ran.
     I wanted to feel the ice walls that surrounded the
helicopters and us. I wanted to observe the deep gaps in the
ice. I heard a call behind me: "CHERIE! DON'T GO THERE!" But
it was too late. I was already enjoying everything. Why
would I have to dislike such a beautiful glacier when it's
right there in from of me - and for only that one time?
     "I just wanted to tell you, Cherie," Sharon began,
"that it's time to go."
     "WHAT?!" I screamed at the top of my lungs.

************************************************************

     The ride back to the regular Ketchikan town was just as
horrible as the ride to the glacier, unlike how I expected
it to be. However, I do not regret what I did. At least I
took the chance to explore one of he Alaskan "wonders of the
state" and become the youngest and greatest person who would
ever set foot on the glacier...and perhaps, if Sharon hadn't
rushed everyone onto the helicopter, I could've died
peacefully and, 5000 years later, be found as the new and
improved Icewoman.