If, like me, you are tired of the graphic images on the nightly news endlessly sensationalizing the skirmishes between architects and poets, then read on. Here is part 2 of my plan to bring both sides together and bridge an unbridgeable rift. How? By extending the olive branch of friendship (or if that doesn’t work, by covering up the whole darn thing with a figleaf).
We can do this by combining the two – by writing architectural poetry, in my case, haiku (sans any mention of bridges, because that would be engineering. We don’t want to pick a fight with them, too. They’re even tougher than poets.).
Why haiku?
- Haiku has a very rigid structure, a framework you must work within. This focuses your thinking right from the start. With less options to explore, you get moving quicker.
- Haikus are short and sweet. Brevity is the soul of wit, afterall. It is much more difficult to write succinctly than to ramble, making it an interesting challenge.
- It’s fun, like solving a little puzzle – not only to paint a picture, tell a story, raise a chuckle or eyebrow in very few words, but to find just the right words in keeping with the rule of 17 syllables.
- You don’t have to rhyme.
- They do not require much time to read or write (unless you labor over every word as I sometimes do. But, what else are you going to do in the shower if you have forsworn soap).
Lost… Old cobbled streets,
Gas lanterns, trembling shadows,
My horse, for Google!
Warm, cozy fireplace,
Small hole near the rocking chair,
Roaches need homes, too.
Castle lies broken,
Ancient wonder crumbling down,
All the King’s horses…
We build towers tall,
Strong, yet limber in the wind,
I fear when they fall.
Poetry in words,
There is poetry in form,
Or is that motion?
A bygone era,
Neighbors waving from porches,
Today… garages.
Lofty cathedral,
Soaring spaces feed the soul,
And starve the ego.
Pretty pink houses,
Grand Victorian ladies,
Where are all the men?
Shoebox hotel room,
Kitschy paintings on the walls,
Could be anywhere.
Read Poets vs. Architects – Part One, here.