Poster Image
$20
Item#: 2009SYR06
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
Amidst the Chatter
poster information
Description
Amidst the chatter
and clink of white coffee mugs
I drink your voice in
The City of Syracuse has had some wonderful little coffeehouses and restaurants, often small places with brick walls and courtyards where friends can get together. They are great venues for poetry readings.
I like the sounds in those places -- the clinking of the plates and mugs, the swirl of chatter as friends gather over steaming cups of tea or coffee. I was thinking about the way people have to lean close in that setting, to hear each other's voices. I like the intimacy of that gesture, being close in a room crowded with people.
I love the mood of this poem. You get a sense of personal experience, because she's drinking in someone's voice, really listening, really captivated by one person. I instantly had a picture in my head of what I would do. Initially I saw it as a couple, a young man and a young woman, and I saw these little cups scattered around. Some of the colors and furniture were inspired by a coffeehouse near campus --“Funk & Waffles.”
The perspective was more of an experiment. In my head, I was seeing the room from overhead, because you'd be able to see more of what was on the tables. But the people -- I wanted to be able to show their faces and interactions. So I just drew it out and thought it would click.