Poster Image

A young girl walks at nighttime surrounded by birdhouses in nearby trees

$20

Item#: 2012SYR01

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

Bird houses appeared

poster information

Description

Bird houses appeared
overnight on Meadowbrook:
Neighborhood magic

What appeals to me most about the birdhouses is that they just showed up; no one announced anything, nothing was organized.

Last summer I was just driving down the street when I noticed there was a birdhouse in the Meadowbrook median area. A week or so later I noticed another one, and then more and more showed up. Now, just about every cross-street has one.

I just don't think this kind of thing happens everywhere, and I love the sense of community it creates. When I returned to Syracuse from graduate school in New York City, I wondered if I had done the right thing — leaving behind all that art and activity. But there are readers and writers and thinkers in Syracuse, and I'm happy to live here, in the neighborhood I live in.

The whimsical nature of the haiku inspired me to base my image more on the poem's words, rather than reality. The wording conveyed a sense of mystery and wonder, and almost immediately, the image I used for the poster appeared in my head.

Meadowbrook itself is one of my favorite places to go; I take frequent walks down there to clear my head, get fresh air, and enjoy the park. It's nice being able to get off campus and see the neighborhood—families, sporting games, kids running around on the playground. I love that sense of togetherness and community.