Poster Image
$20
Item#: 2016SYR05
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
Smoke Threads Over A
poster information
Description
Smoke threads over a
Haudenosaunee sunrise,
two lacrosse sticks crack.
This haiku honors the Haudenosaunee, the People of the Long House, who taught us how to play lacrosse, how to govern, and how to relate to nature. I had in mind a person who embodies this heritage: Oren Lyons, Faith Keeper of the Turtle Clan, who has led a life of engagement with his land and culture, and advocacy for indigenous people. A superb lacrosse player on SU's 1957 undefeated national championship team, he went on to become a teacher and global ambassador for human rights.
The poem begins with a soft dawn image in the Onondaga hills and ends with the bracing sharp crack of two hickory wood lacrosse sticks echoing through crisp morning air and traveling out, like Oren Lyons, with an invitation to engage indigenous values and the land.
I chose this poem because there weren't many that talked about Native Americans. As I am an Onondaga, of the snipe clan and I currently reside on the reservation with my family. When this assignment was given to us we had the Iroquois Nationals here finishing up. Originally I had three main sketches for this particular poster, the one I settled on was the old styled Great Lakes Lacrosse Sticks and an art deco themed design with a sunrise and hills which resembled traditional Iroquois bead work patterns. I don't know where my work is going to take me. But my home and Syracuse have been a great place of inspiration for me.