Poster Image

A musician in a scarf plays a violin beneath a streetlight

$20

Item#: 2015SYR13

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

Lone Violinist

poster information

Description

Lone violinist
strains against a wintry blast.
Snowy walk. Encore.

The performance was over and most of us were warming our cars, on our way home from the Civic Center. Snow blew fiercely down the street.

A lone musician, bent against the wintry blast, carried her violin close to her side. Perhaps her car was parked in a lot on Warren Street or Fayette. I hoped her walk would be short, that she had a snow brush, that her car was nearby.

As we drove north along Onondaga Lake Parkway, the snow became more intense. She surely was home, and we were not far from ours, all of us braving a winter storm for music, a night at the symphony.

I wanted to show a person alone, but they're happy about it, because there's a comfort in solitude. I definitely like being around people, but sometimes you just have to be yourself, and I think that's kind of what art is for me, a way to get away from everyone, and just do what you want to do.

I'm also a musician. I play oboe, tenor sax, piano and banjo, and I'm learning ukulele. And I've played on the street before—with my friends in the city. It's really fun. But I think this piece is more about playing for yourself, because the haiku says, “lone violinist, snowy walk.” No one is going to be outside at that time. It's a personal performance, just for that person. I like that.