I select poems, in general, very carefully. In addition to being a visual artist I have had an interest in creative writing for years. I appreciate clarity, brevity, and elegance. The poem I chose from the other strong submissions had all three. I also appreciate that this poem felt like being bathed in light. It is a visual poem in the best sense.

Creating art in Central New York has been a journey of unexpected twists and turns that often occur. I draw strength from that. This is an environment where I draw inspiration from almost anything: the culture, the people, the highs and lows, the streets, buildings, and folds of green. My aspiration as an artist and as a person is to maintain a close connection to the community that made me the person I am.

Walking along Onondaga Lake the summer of 2020 I met a woman who told me about the Poster Project. That afternoon I wrote this haiku about an unforgettable kiss by that lake decades earlier – a snapshot of an innocent young couple in college starting life together.

This college romance led to a marriage proposal at our graduation dinner dance. He fell on his knees at the top of a formal, winding staircase, and a friend he grew up with took a photo I have to this day.

Our plans together were cut short, however, because thirty-three days later he died instantly in a car crash on the way to meet me. And yet, even once, even briefly, that glimpse of eternity sustains me. And although pain lasts a lifetime, so does joy.

There was a door to which I found no key
There was a veil past which I could not see
Some little talk awhile of me and thee
There seemed—and then no more of thee and me.
― Omar Khayyám