INDUSTRIAL FACADES

INDUSTRIAL FACADES

for Bernd and Hilla Becher

Sliding pig iron loading dock doors under arches
A circular window of brick over scraped gates
Fieldstone trim fronting a tiny turntable

Vertical pine planks eaten inside out
Triumvirate of grandfather clock casements
Falling bomb under stepped stonework ziggurat

Leaden turnbuckle anchoring loads
Diamond stones like bordering cufflinks
Silver tube exhausting stink of zinc

Vomitory slots slice infilled sash crescents
Glass brick glazing in mortared grid glowing
Window bars lattice aureole of pane

Ferns sprouting from crumbled cornice
Penile shoot dropping down to dumpster
Spalling limestone whitens crenelated shed

Church of the gutter and bowing downspout
Rail siding door bricked-over and I-beamed
Punched periscope in horizontal triptych

Sodium vapor cyclops attached to groin
Siamese valves prick bulbous pipes
A box locked and marked with a large “F”

Feathery carbuncle of exhaust fan spuming
Ancient family crests pocked with paint
Spinning wheels off spindles lie rusting

Sunburned lips of stucco cracking
And a stairway’s landing disappeared
By breathy spray of caustic gunk

A snuffed chimney amid blooming weeds
Seashell scrollwork tickling masonry
Iron-crossed entries sport pimply rivets

Giacometti canisters of chloride stand barely
Speakers jut like church bells in mid-toll
“1900” above the puncturing hyperbolic cables

Eyebrow of drain above vault against rain
Rusting candy cane of spiralled smokestack
A pigeon pauses on wedding cake roof ledge

Veined stack of insulated pipes snaking corners
Spool of telephone wire thimbled on slab
Rosette of ventilation spins against suffocation

Fatigued axles piled like cords of fir
“X” marks the superstructure spot
Birthmark of white brick on the dark countenance

Zigzag clinker staircase in wash of steam
Swiss chalet timbers lodging cinder blocks
Chipped-tooth grin of smashed window

Scratched glass glaring fluttery light
Corrugated aluminum waffling stained snow
Double boilers heeling like leashed sheepdogs

Overhead chevron angling to train entrance
Effluvia tubulet bisecting black skewback
Chamfered corner and steely ellipse intersect