The Dark

In my first Winter expedition to Alaska I traveled in the short daylight hours; I focused on the ice below my boots, the cracks in the ice, the snow, and all lighted surfaces. But in the second expedition, last winter, I traveled at night, plunged into a disorienting realm of shifting dark and darker, a place of winking lights if any. The contrast between the expeditions was stark...and that is the starting point for a piece of writing...

In the photo, Chiu in Alaska, last Winter. Temperature about -30F and the light is from a camera flash; without the flash, space-black night. Click to enlarge.