Walking Through Cranbrook
Give me paper; give me pen!
give me a monumental poem
as enduring as Saarinen’s fountain,
with Orpheus ascending.
When is the last time you heard
a poem in praise of strength
a poem in praise of valor?
bronze statues black as leather!
If I sat and gazed from a window
through potassium oxide glass,
from the second floor bedroom
behind a brick-work façade,
I would transcend the years
back to the time when my soul
was not a Taliban,
but was a student all enamored!
I would wander back and re-create
the ruined boathouse by the lake
which in desuetude still stands,
loyal guard to love long gone!
The Old Boathouse at Cranbrook
--
notes
On the grounds of Cranbrook Academy in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.
Eliel Saarinen was the first resident architect.
These echoes of art re-program my mind...
2 comments:
Glory. Enduring and endearing.
I spent one weekend in those walls, in a Spartan room with textiles designed by Saarinen's wife, and furniture designed by his son. No one can tell me that these things do not matter. Those windows, patterns and lines transcend the years because they transcended physicality, and nurtured my spirit for a lifetime.
Let's re-create the ruined boathouse together, in our poems.
Your words move me.
I think you have an excellent idea.
Maybe that boathouse could be restored in the future.
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