Abstract, Architecture, Poetry, Ricoh RF 500
by Patrick Jennings

Broken things

Broken things
The things we can make
Of broken things
Surprise and delight
Like a mosaic,
Or a temple

The friends we can make
Of broken friends
Surprise and delight
Like a lover
Or a mentor

For we all are
A little bit broken
A little bit beautiful
A little bit brilliant

And the broken
Just makes us all
Different
Surprising
Delightful

Wat Arun
(Temple of Dawn)
Bangkok, Thailand

Take during travels, 1995

The structures of Wat Arun, along Bangkok’s Chao Phraya river, even the tall spire at the center of the temple grounds, are finished in mosaic and relief made up of small bits of porcelain. Cut, no doubt, though many appear to have been broken into shape before set in the mortar. (This is a lesser structure, a shrine, not the spire.)