Green Artists League

Erin Stack

GAL created several temporary installations of site-inspired “Green Haiku” along the Newburyport waterfront. The installation site at an urban park and river boardwalk, brings into focus how the natural environment is “developed” and tamed for human consumption. Pedestrians discovering these “Green Haiku” were given the opportunity to reflect on their experience and influence on Nature. .

GAL has installed Green Haiku at the Newburyport Waterfront in 2007 and 2008. The photo above is a haiku by Erin Stack.

In our 2008 installation, twelve GAL haiku and five short poems from guest poet Richard Wolman from his series, “Morning Songs,” were inscribed on raw canvas and posted along the Waterfront for ten days in April coinciding with Earth Day and the Newburyport Literary Festival.

After the installation, the surviving poems were retrieved (some were stolen) and “recycled” into two books, with images by GAL members. These books will be used to inspire 4th and 5th graders at Newburyport’s Molin Upper Elementary School in the Spring of ‘09.

GAL will also be creating Green Haiku for Amesbury, MA in the Spring of 2009.

The Green Artists League offers these Green Haiku as an opportunity to reflect on our community environment. GAL invites those who are also inspired by their local environment to post their own Green Haiku (along with image and location of inspiration) on our Citizen Green Haiku blog. (More info on this to come…)

Selected text from GAL’s Green Haiku…

Fragile Seed Pods
Blown onto black asphalt road
Picked up by warm hands

Salt Spiced air
On the banks by the river
Uplifting Source

Eva Maria Lee

Stolen Sand
On my feet
Stolen Land

Rat-a-tat-tat construction
Autos growl over Merrimac
Bird songs spring

Drumming noise of cars
Bare feet over the river
Warm October day

Salt filled air
On my thirsty skin
Wipes off tears

-Eva Maria Lee

Cold hidden alive
Black reflection moves
In the cold river

Plum tree rusted
Blackened over time
A dark rainy day

- Jeannie Dunnigan

Brick stands upon brick
Leaves turn within and without
A tree grips its roots

- Deborah Szabo

Trees
Listen… They speak.
Cars rush by.

- Ruth Trussell

Erin Stack

Scattered gold
Mired
In mud

Ancient Pine
Sliced bit by bit
Still stands

Swift water
Moves November
Fish traps

A treasure discarded
Blackened brambles sprout green growth
Faded bauble remains

Brazen Autumn blooms
Evening’s frozen embrace
Black garden morning

- Erin Stack