"The Architect" by Erik Johansson
Click HERE to view his website.
Linking with The Sunday Muse for Muse # 78
brought to us today by the amazing and talented poet Shay!
Come join us!
"When the winds of change blow, some people build walls and others build windmills."
~ Chinese Proverb
We build homes out of more than timber and brick
For living in a perfect place is an optical illusion
A sleight of hand that hides an ace under its sleeve
My mother built hers with secrets that remained behind
closed doors
Perfect curtains in front of cluttered rooms where emptiness
Filled the air thicker than the dust that lined the shelves
I built my house on my own with no directions
But it still was block and beam set on the same illusion
Denial is stronger than the steel frame of a skyscraper
Where character defects can be blind to a cracked foundation
Sometimes to truly repair the damage
we must tear down the
dilapidated homestead
and simply begin again.
I resonate with building one's house on her own....I have made so many homes, each one a sanctuary that was escape for the homes of my childhood. This is beautiful, Carrie. So many beginning agains in this life. Each one more hopeful than the last.
ReplyDeleteIsn't that the truth? Those of us without example have to learn to build our own way, but sometimes the result is pretty fine.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love the Chinese proverb, and your poem is so poignantly personal it's truly special!
ReplyDelete"Perfect curtains in front of cluttered rooms where emptiness
ReplyDeleteFilled the air thicker than the dust that lined the shelves "...
what a great metaphor! Enjoyed this "rise above" poem.
I can relate to your poem. I think the foundation is the mortar that holds it all together without that, there are bound to be cracks.
ReplyDeleteYes, Carrie, such truth in this. Sometimes the foundation we are given isn't the one we can live on. My poem has a similar theme, but much darker. It deals with depression.
ReplyDeleteWe all needs strong foundations . . . :)
ReplyDeleteHomes of illusion, house of cards, and then there are the many homes I live in while I sleep, so unfamiliar but recognizable.
ReplyDeleteI love the sense of growth in this poem - and how we can all become architects of our own homes
ReplyDeleteThis is a powerful comment on a family’s emotional politics, the the essence of the smiling face that conceals the darker truths in all of us. Excellent Carrie.
ReplyDeleteThese are truths we can all relate to. Whether a person, or a house, there must be substance
ReplyDeleteand a solid base.