Corbels and Canopies

Sydney Opera House by Jorn Utzon

architectural features
should obey austere laws
that form follows function
that style follows substance
or fall to indictment
as criminal ornament

so said the modernist Bauhaus ideology
bleeding on doctrinal liberal arts
and business school mantras
structure in train to strategy
but I must confess it leaves suffering cold
my personal warmth for aesthetics

keep your unnatural boxes of steel and flat glass
give me organic character
show me corbels and canopies
contours and clefts
that will quicken my courses
like curves of a confident woman

 

 

From my books City of Pawns and Legacies (vol. 1)