Northern Stillness

[R.C. KITCHENS]

Well north of the bustling city
before the crackle of nights winter fires
hard hats, black backs and frozen fingers
shiver smoothly in time with their iron picks
sharp strikes upon the icy earth,
shattering the frozen northern stillness.

I think it reads good. I think "well" in the first line could be dropped and you would get the same affect. Also in the last line you could probably do without "frozen" as you imply "icy earth" in the line before it.