Home Construction Has Its Poetry

Mar 11
11:25

2012

Andrew Stratton

Andrew Stratton

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There is a certain poetry to the creative force of home construction. Vision must be joined with practical skill in order to create a dream house.

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Audre Lorde once wrote,Home Construction Has Its Poetry Articles "Poetry is not only dream and vision; it is the skeleton architecture of our lives. It lays the foundations for a future of change, a bridge across our fears of what has never been before." Although her focus was on the vital importance of poetry and not the metaphoric reference she chose, her words reflect an often overlooked truth. In short, construction in a form of creation, an artistic building of a building that is so very much more than the sum of its parts.

Perhaps, you are starting from scratch paper and doodles of the house of your very own dreams. You scrimp and save and buy a piece of land. You keep your belt tightened a while longer and look forward to the day you can take your next step. You meet with the architect who will interpret your descriptions and sketches and convert them to blueprints. You take a very deep breath and put your transcribed vision into the hands of your general contractor.

Alternatively, you may have walked into an existing structure that was well loved long long ago but has been left to sigh and settle for years, waiting for you. You see each room as it could be rather than as it is. You allow your imagination to play with what is there and what is not there. You remove a wall to open up the dining room or add an island in the kitchen. Again, you seek the person who can put daydream to paper and entrust a construction crew with your reinterpretation of an existing space.

Regardless of where you begin, it is important to remember that the heavy tools and the wild cacophony of equipment are their own odd, lived symphony. They share a certain spirit with the orchestra tuning up their instruments, even if they are less pleasantly discordant in their resonance. Their chaotic yet purposeful noises are the necessary to prelude to the graceful notes of visual detail that will compose your final touches.

It seems, at times, impossible that work boots and hard hats can be representative of delicate work. Yet, they produce the pathways of electric currency and routes of warm water than improve the comfort of your life every day you spend in the solidly three-dimensional version of your dream house. A strange balance of brute force and careful touch are required for the successful manifestation of your vision.

Rarely is home construction considered in poetic terms. There are obvious reasons for this, stemming largely from the experience of work crews. Still, if home is where the heart is, how can we not feel the artistry of the work beyond its tangibly, visually artistic outcome?

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