Brick(s), by Terry Dart

Bricks for sure make up some formidable walls. They are a well understood building material.

In metaphor a brick wall can be for protection from one bad event (say a house fire) spreading and multiplying problems.

Or a wall can keep out of sight unwanted entities. If I am depressed a metaphorical wall rises up within my consciousness. Of course that is not brick so I digress. I will leave.

“Like talking to a brick wall.” Well that has been tried many a time and always unsuccessfully as anyone who has tried will attest. But I have always thought it a terrific simile.

The most extreme use or misuse of brick is when it winds up being thrown through a window or at someone’s head.

Bricks can be broken with a hammer and often are broken in two by a bricklayer in the process of building. He may be building a house, of course. If you have ever watched a bricklayer at work, you can see the careful almost meditative work at this ancient craft.

So there: bricks. That about covers it.

Oh, there is a literary piece, ‘The Cask of Amontillado’ by Edgar Allen Poe that makes great use of brick. But don’t read it. It’s Way too Scary!

© 12 October 2015

About the Author

I am an artist and writer after having spent the greater part of my career serving variously as a child care counselor, a special needs teacher, a mental health worker with teens and young adults, and a home health care giver for elderly and Alzheimer patients. Now that I am in my senior years I have returned to writing and art, which I have enjoyed throughout my life.