Chicago Windows at Sukothai, Thailand
J. Quinn Brisben
Observation of destruction can be
The beginning of wisdom: railroad
Bridges that Jenney blew up for
Sherman in Georgia taught him
The fluid spirit of steel, and Root
Rebuilding those bridges in haste learned
That steel would brace the future.
Chicago burned and boomed, receiving
Builders from all over, and Root made
A superb valedictory to the mass
And thrust of stone, but Jenney lifted
Storey upon storey whose walls could be
Open to the light and followers made
New arrogant staring transparencies.
The new surge of power lifted but
Could not cool for another fifty years,
So the great fixed central panels
Were flanked by sashes that could be
Opened to aid the fan gyring up
Warm air to the high and noble ceiling.
All desire causes suffering, even
The desire to know how one place
Differs from another and different
Ways of being human. Illusion
Must be conquered, but humans must
First know it to its very depths.
Here in Sukothai among the stripped
Illusions of wisdom, the peeled image,
The lithe but transitory movement,
The warring mix striving for purity,
We are strangers but at home, seeing
Sukothai through Chicago windows.
