Poster Image

Colorful Adirondack chairs arranged in a circle seen from an overhead view

$20

Item#: 2020SYR09

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.

Adirondack Chairs

poster information

Description

Adirondack chairs
positioned dutifully
worship mother sun

My husband, two daughters and I live in Pennsylvania. For the past 12 summers we have collectively lived on both the north and south shores of Oneida Lake. During our stays we visited many of the well-known places in Syracuse, but most of our memories stem from simple lakeside living. It is this aspect from which I derived my haiku. Our dear neighbor Mary turns her multi-color Adirondack chairs in the direction of the light so as to optimize the warmth and beauty that surrounds. The chairs remind me of a devoted congregation, unwavering in faith and looking beyond. They are solid, sturdy and unmoving, loyal and committed. Colored Adirondack chairs will always remind me of Mary, Central New York and our cherished family time together. These memories and this place are woven into our hearts forever. We will always think of New York as home.

I selected Christina Finn's haiku because it hit a responsive chord with me. Just recently I lost a friend and colleague, Gary Trento, who painted a painting that hangs in my house at the bottom of my staircase. In it are two empty Adirondack chairs, looking off somewhere, while resting in front of a large wall of lush evergreen trees. I see that painting every day and it constantly reminds me of a wonderful poem by Billy Collin titled “The Chairs That No One Sits In,” in which Adirondack chair pairs are awaiting their occupants. Both Gary and Billy beautifully created their Adirondack chairs moments, now it was my turn. I went deep from Finn's verbal cues, especially “positioned dutifully / worship mother sun,” which took me back to one of the first times people worshiped the sun at STONEHENGE and then brought it to where we are today with CHAIRHENGE, still worshipping.