(2 pm. – promoted by ek hornbeck)
My brother probably noticed that I flicked him a look,
when he said my joints were “spalling;” sounds like
a disease of old age, but the topmost
layer of little sand grains was not
adhering after I topped off the mortar,
brick by brick, joint by joint, by eighths,
sixteenths. Days and nights passed.
Adhesion was what concerned me most when
I cleaned each brick with a spray bottle and brush
So as not to disturb the joints. Spalling, eh?
I can’t know every word in the Mother Tongue,
but if it happens, there is probably word for it.
What puzzles me is that he knew that word,
because certainly I’ve laid more bricks.
6 comments
Skip to comment form
Author
You better believe I’ll be posting some bragging pics goddammit, right after the acid wash is finished.
if the mortar was spalling the detrimental effects may not be apparent for a few years when the weakened cement flakes and cracks and starts falling out of the joints. Seal it well. I know, I know, my observation is aspalling, but it’s da truff. 😉