from nothing to all

its late
and im tired
but its time for a little history lesson
my continuing mild obsession with architecture
from classic stone buttresses
to the iron work of the chicago el
glimpses caught on the stairs
of bolts defining the edges of ibeams
the stutter of the railroad ties
sun/dark/sun/dark/
windows and brick and the unending lines of streetlights

in paris and spain
the variety is greater
with ages delineated by material
stone meeting concrete meeting steel
the wood used up long before
forests felled to wall in forts
later shored up
hidden
by walls of rock rising out of the fields
like hands reached out and down every widening
what they swept together
and mounded up
sifting out the weak and loose
to keep the immutable


chateau de chambord
a gormenghast of reality
piled upon itself one wing atop another
crawling in and over eachother
turrents and spires spawning walkways
the main staircase a double helix


the tower of chartres cathedral
you walk inside and are blind in the darkness
until you pass though a mote of light from the windows
stained glass tinting your eyesight
the towers are mismatched
uneven and unbalancing to look at
but once accepted
beautiful in their disagreement
creatures riddle the walls
interrupting the clean lines



gaudi cathedral
a mess of ideas wonderful in their confusion
the old disintegrating before the completion of the final walls
creatures clambering and appearing through windows
wheresoever the eye might rest
there is life stopped in stone

the ocean meets the land
with mixed results


war meets mercy
and cruel beasts devour the devout

if anyone can tell me what this beast is
i would be grateful
until then it is merely nightmare