Poem – Growth Before Buildings (By David Russell)

Growth Before Buildings

 

Wood piles beneath

the shallow permanent stone

Firm feet upon the yielding bog

Let water in – the wood’s grain will prevail through its lines

Let water out – white softness will grow to draw things down

 

The foundations could be called organic,

So people longed to analyse          to scrutinize

 

Trade silver mercury

Sweep and cluster

Went across

Spanning the spider-grasp of two rivers

 

Thin, gurgling on a common height

Tortured the muscle of the current

In thin air

Full beneath naked trees.

 

[su_david_russell_speculum]