Poster Image
$20
Item#: 2017SYR01
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
Canal Weeds Shimmy
poster information
Description
Canal weeds shimmy
up to the surface as sun
fish play hide and seek
I wrote this haiku in the Fall of 2014. It's one of many haiku I've written while walking or riding my bicycle along the Old Erie Canal Trail. For me, the Canal paths running through DeWitt, Minoa and Kirkville, offer many opportunities for peaceful reflection, a peek at history, a chance to be inspired—all the while getting a good workout!
My inspiration often comes from watching and listening to the busy hum of traffic of the diverse wildlife who call the Erie and its widewaters their home. Depending on the season, or the slant of the sun when it sparkles at the water's edge, catching the flash of Sunfish darting through the Canal's murky depths, never fails to surprise me.
As my family would often vacation by the water in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, the idea of drawing fish with this poem drew my attention. The haiku also had a lighthearted, whimsical feel that I often like to incorporate in my work. To draw the fish, I began by referencing a large mouth bass, and then took the creature into my own world.
My poster reflects my interest in special relations, drawing the bridge in the background and fish drawing viewers forward. I also incorporate my interest in color using ink splotches as splashes and watercolor texture over the water. I have begun to use this technique in much of my recent work.