Building

I want to meet the man who twisted the curves into wrought iron fences.

Sit me sown with that sandy soul who pulled the big bricks into pyramids,

the woman who wove the tapestries in the Cloisters.

I want to wear an architect on my sleeve

who beats and builds ever so soundly

and I can take him out at any moment

and ask him questions.

Why do men no longer build cathedrals?

When I lean on my brick and siding Ohio home I feel no flying buttresses.

The men who molded great buildings with their fingertips

lay now,

and feed the vines that crawl up their walls.

I want to bless their big decomposing fingers.

When I walk New York’s West Side I cup my hands over old apartment buildings

and read their rocks like braille.

The gargoyles and Roman numerals speak secrets to my fingers.

When I run my little finger along stained glass I know that

creaking floors crack jokes

and rusty screen doors ramble sometimes

about those who walked through their doors

for a hundred years.

Give me marble and a thousand days to cut it,

and domed ceilings like upside-down sailing ships,

and old Victorian doorways marked with the heights of growing children.

Marry me to a carpenter,

give me even five minutes of dialog with a stonecutter,

because even Christ and Socrates carved creations to hold me.

Betsy Brown

Betsy Brown

Betsy Brown is a teacher and writer in New York City. She has a B.A. in Media, Culture, and the Arts from The King's College and is working on her M.F.A. in Creative Nonfiction through Seattle Pacific