Poster Image
$20
Item#: 2022SYR05
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
When I Call to Them
poster information
Description
When I call to them,
they don't always answer me.
But their blessings do.
All religions and cultures revere their ancestors. In Christian tradition, the concept of the communion of saints—mystical union with those who have died and awareness of them as a great cloud of witnesses who have paved the way—is a powerful belief for many.
My haiku reflects that viewpoint. I have known so many witnesses who have blessed my life and while I do not experience them as some do, I routinely "feel" an attitude, grace, or strength that seems to come from one of them.
As far as writing inspiration, on a daily basis I read "Poetry Foundation," "A Writer's Almanac," and "Center for action and Contemplation"—free and inspiring of reflection.
When choosing a haiku for the Syracuse Poster Project, I typically look for a poem that can evoke a theme that lends itself towards the representation of the Native American aspect.
The Haudenosaunee I believe requires representation when discussing or defining the essence of Central New York through art. For the city of Syracuse itself rests upon the homeland of the Onondaga Nation.
The symbol choices of my piece rest upon key colors and shapes. The green rolling hills and wintergreen mountains harken to “the people of the hills.” The gleaming shape of ambers, oranges, and reds are that of the Central Council fire of the Haudenosaunee, the capital of the Confederacy. Finally, a woman sits carrying the world, for our society is that of the matriarch, and our world is that of the mother.