Poetry + Proof
Note: The American Institute of Architects published this poem in 2003, honoring me as AIA Poet Laureate.
I learn by going where I have to go.
– Theodore Roethke (“The Waking,” 1953)
The people draw together in their rhythm
Their steps making a music and a beat
Cadences that gather fully with them
To constitute a poem when they meet.
The forces of this union make a work place
Where seekers need the proof of what they know:
Hoping in assembly, in their space
For finding what it takes to make it so.
“Does beauty heal?” “Does order give us peace?"
Where lies the proof of what we all believe?
Art embraces science without cease
As by design our ideals interweave.