West 85th Street (Thursday Doors)

The large building loudly walks the street.
Geometry, context, and beauty.
Why does the window repeat?
Why does the arch answer?
Why?  connection!
The dark door quickly gets the guy.

The Red House, designed by Harde and Short, was completed in 1904. At the time it was considered a luxury building, although now it’s a market-rate studio and one-bedroom apartment rental building. It’s striking architecture was landmarked in 1982. It is said that Dorothy Parker once lived there

Another distinctive building on West 85th Street belongs to Dorot, a non-profit that provides social services for older adults. Founded by graduates of the social work program at Columbia University, it has expanded beyond its original idea of alleviating the social isolation of the elderly to include programs and activities both inside and outside the home. Volunteers provide a vibrant inter-generational connection.

My poem is courtesy of the poem generator, which I recently rediscovered when going through old posts. I generated a few different ones, then picked lines from several to put my poem together.

This is the one I used, feeding it my own word list: https://thinkzone.wlonk.com/PoemGen/PoemGen.htm

And here’s another one: https://www.languageisavirus.com/interactive-poetry-generator.php

You can read more about The Red House here and find out more about Dorot here.

And, as always, visit Dan Antion the host of Thursday Doors, here to see more doors and share your own.