Patrick Theron Erickson

BUILDING ARTS
      for Christopher

A man
with the spirit of development

extols mortar
and exudes cement

He extols cement
and exudes brick

A man
with the spirit of development

conceives the foundation and
pregnant with the cornerstone

gives birth to the top stone

and the keystone
while he’s at it

The man
with the spirit of development

is the soul of architecture
and the heart of wit.

BIVOUAC

Pitch your tent
each day
one day closer
to home

remembering

home is where
the heart is

well grounded

Strengthen
your tent stakes

lengthen your cords
and broaden your tent flaps

Fill them
with good things
withal

good food
good friends
good times

remembering
that larger canopy
the sky
enveloping us

and that greater
base of operations
the earth

now one day
closer to home

where the heart is

well grounded.

TWO MOTIFS

What if Justice
is set in cement

her blindfold
and scales fixed and rigid
set in cement?

What if the king
her consort
like his concubine
is fixed and rigid
set in cement

the heavens his headrest
his footstool the earth?

Grovel at his feet

He holds all the marbles.