Mighty Little Man

Frank Lloyd Wright was the mighty little man

who made the T-square popular by drawing gridded plan.

He introduced the human scale
 laid the carpets wall to wall

and heated up the floors.

He made long walls entirely our of glassy doors.

He brought the outside in and vice versa.

He's the might little man,
the hero of the open plan,
the cantilever

and the long clear span.

He built upon a floating slab
and screwed his work together.

He let the wood show through
instead of covering it with paint

and when the rain fell in the clients soup,
he advised they move the plate.

He was a mighty little man
who made the tall look taller

and the long and low look even lower and longer.

There was no one with a mindset stronger.

He was a mighty little man
who made the chairs stand tall

and hung the toilets directly from the walls.

Surmounting all impediments, he was a mighty man
though small.

Millionaires Are Weeping

The millionaires are weeping for their fate

as billionaires displace them throughout the old Gem State.

But the tragedy's most apparent in the Valley of the Sun

Where billionaires out-number millionaires ten to one.

The trout are getting smaller and the license costing more.

The streets are getting crowded and the rich are feeling poor.

You can see by our new airport that the jet sets doing well.

The average house in Ketchum is as large as a hotel.

If the rich get any richer we'll know it in this way;

There will be no space left for architectural display.

Architecture Often Fails

Architecture often fails when rhetoric prevails

for people see not clearly with their eyes but listen to the

ego's wishes and if they're told that such a thing is 

gold and glistens, thought it may be dull as lead,

they ignore the truth and accept the lie instead.

Both heart and head must be balanced and appeased

for us to be esthetically pleased. 

But how often the one or-rules the other

for some catchy notion presented as a vital truth or noble emotion?

Apply these simple rules of thumb as any build is begun:

Does it preserve the nature of the site? 

Does it accommodate all living creatures day and night?

Or, is it just another bit of human blight?

Architects

Most architects are slaves of fashion

fueled by money and excess.

If you can spend a million dollars on your hut,

is that really best?

Why not build a pond or plant another tree

instead of leveling forests for eccentricity?

I'm sure there's someone somewhere who simply wants to build

what nature can abide.

There must be architects who observe the natural tide?

But we don't often see them in the daily news,

they're designing yachts

or maybe on extended cruise?