The stern men, frozen at the end of the pier, stood strong with their fishing rods in their gloved hands. The rotten wood floor covering the delapidated pier was covered in slippy ice. The daunting mountains and hills on the horizon loom over the unsuspecting people. The settled water sighed and stared toward the overcast sky. The water was crystal clear and spanned the entire mountain range. The ...

Peaceful I’m standing at end of the dock. The freezing air fills my nose with every breath. I love the view of the snow covered mountains in the distance. Except from the rippling water, it’s completely silent. It feels like I’m standing at the end of the world and I’m so happy to be here. Having left normal life for a moment to enjoy this quiet scenery. Life is a great adventure and it’s about mo...

Freezing cold

Cold as ever

I’m shivering, shiver me timbers

I thought you loved me

But you left me here

All alone, on a cold icy pier...

It was a rather frosty morning near the arctic sea, when the two fishermen, Jayco and Robbin, decided to take a walk down the trail from their cosy little cottage to catch their breakfast.

Each of them grabbed their fishing rods and reels and made it to the door. It was so narrow that it looked more like a wicket door for those two large men to come through. After sucking some air and holding the...

I had lived my life on this pier.

My dad proposed on this pier.

My mom told my dad that she was pregnant with me on this pier.

In the winter it would freeze over and we would go ice skating. In the summer we would watch the orcas that called the bay home, just like us.

I had my first kiss at 15 on this pier.

10 years later I said yes, I’ll marry you to the same man on this pier.

I said I do and k...

We walk hand in hand down the pier, with no one in sight. I shiver as an icy wind blows, so Zach offers his jacket.

"Thanks," I say, and grab it in swift motions.

He kisses my head as I put on the dark blue coat with yellow lines on the sleeves. I reach up and kiss his lips once I'm done. He puts his hands on my arms.

"Your so beautiful, you know that right?"

I hang my head and shrug.

"Your ...

Skin quivering

I’m standing in my parka shivering

It’s so so cold

Colder than I was told

I try to get warm

On the horizon looms a storm

I watch icy waves crash

Vicious whipping winds lash

Wooden boards creak beneath my feet

From the sky rains an unforgiving sleet

I wish I was anywhere warmer

Perhaps the cozy temperature I was former

It feels as though I have ice within me

Glaciers for miles...

Orson heaved his crate of fish down the pier.

It reached almost up to his eyes, and his arms were straining. But Tobias had told him to carry it all the way to the merchant’s ship, and he was determined to make him proud. This was the first time any of the older fishermen had given him his own job, after all, even if it was a small one. He had to prove that he could be something more than a po...

Before we moved I went to the library and looked at pictures of the Arctic circle. There was mostly just pictures of glaciers and very cold looking water. There was one though that I couldn’t quite shake from my mind. It was a wooden pier stretching out into a dark sea with big chains chunks of ice bobbing in it. Snow and chunks of ice on the wooden pier too. I wondered who would walk out there an...

The white peaks are unforgiving.

Many died trying to prove that wrong. Others still have attempted to claim our lands. Animals traverse it, searching for new ground to nest on.

We have been ruthless to those who threaten us.

I look over the pier, bundled in layers of layers of fabric. Tightly woven enough to move, but thick enough to rebuff the cold.

And it is very cold.

Both our spirits and ...