Poster Image
$20
Item#: 2003SYR15
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
Blue Heron Stretches
poster information
Description
Blue heron stretches
City wide wings—summer haze
Settles on the lake
I was driving along Onondaga Lake Parkway, and I saw a blue heron land. It's a spectacular sight, because they are such large birds and so uniquely constructed. I had written about them before; in my collection of poems I use an image in which I compare the heron—seen this time in Indiana—to an umbrella, because they have the delicate, angular and clumsy structure of that object. They seem no more than bones and feathers.
This time the heron stretched its huge wings and immediately the phrase “city-wide” came to mind—and there was the sudden “panning out”—close observation to expansiveéthat my haiku needed.
Most everything I do is sewn. I use a sewing machine or do hand stitching. My mom's an avid quilter, and she taught me how to sew. I like the story telling that occurs in old quilts. And I like the way they transcend time. Quilting is a tradition that gets passed on from generation to generation.
Because I'm taking the time to do every stitch, I feel I have an intimate connection with the piece. My hand skills slow down, and I can pay attention to detail in a different way than I would if I were drawing. It's very contemplative.
Usually, I would work with a lot of bright colors and shapes. But with this haiku I was thinking about Japanese prints and simple ink drawings—expression through line.