Syracuse is a wonderful music town. We have all kinds of music festivals in the summer: the Jazz festival, the NY State Blues Festival, and others, but there's not too much in the winter. I'm one of the co-founders of the Syracuse Acoustic Blues festival, and when we first started it about five years ago, I wrote a song to help promote it. The name of the song is Cold in Syracuse. When I received the announcement about poetry submissions to the Syracuse Poster project, I had just played this song, so it became the inspiration. The winter, that's when you feel like you need some music!

As an artist living in Central New York, my work is deeply influenced by the rich cultural tapestry of the Onondaga Nation, a vital member of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. In this community, lacrosse transcends being just a sport—it is a sacred aspect of life. Beginning with the gifting of lacrosse sticks to babies at birth and culminating in people being laid to rest with their sticks, the game holds profound spiritual significance. The greatest stick maker of all time is Alfred Jacques.