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.