Poster Image
$20
Item#: 2009SYR02
Purchase Details
11x17-inches, printed on heavy weight (100-pound) Hammermill cover paper. We package each print with a piece of chipboard in a clear plastic sleeve.
You also receive…
An information page with photos of the artist and poet, and hand-written comments from each.
Medium- and large-format posters are available by custom order. Contact us for details.
Poem Inspiration Location
Bold Skyline Towers
poster information
Description
Bold skyline towers
Welcome home soaring falcons
And human spirits
Every aspect of Nature --“zoology, botany, geology, and astronomy”-- has always fascinated me. So, it's only natural that writing haikus and bird watching are two of my favorite pastimes!
One reason I like to read and write haikus is that they often allude to Nature. As a haiku writer, I like the challenge of trying to depict a beautiful image found in Nature in a very short space. I also like the demands of the rigid format and the easy shortness of haiku. I started writing haiku when my daughter Brook learned about them in grade school, and was inspired by the haikus of one of her teachers, Sheila Forsyth.
Several years ago, when peregrine falcons started nesting on the tall buildings in Syracuse, I was thrilled. Seeing falcons soaring, diving after prey, truly lifts my spirits. And encountering these wild hunters in the heart of Syracuse, while unexpected, is emblematic of Syracusans' adventurousness and their love of nature.
What I liked about this haiku was its ambiguity. While haikus are inherently simple, they are also elegant, spiritual, and visual, which is very helpful when you're doing an illustration.
Since the haiku is subtle, I wanted to go in a shape-oriented direction: not a lot of detail, just rectangles, squares and big, broad shapes.
I think my favorite part of the piece was the way I incorporated the text vertically. I thought it would be interesting to turn the haiku on its side to really get the viewer involved with the work.