John Steil

Haiku Linocuts

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Haiku is a traditional Japanese form.  Whatever the number of syllables, or lines, haiku are intended to express and evoke emotion.  Cor van den Heuvel said a haiku is a short poem recording the essence of a moment keenly perceived in which nature is linked to human nature.  With small linocuts (3 inch x 3 inch), I’m illustrating a series of haiku I’ve written.  The prints are intended to be evocative of the haiku or just taken, alone, for what they provoke.


h_rowboat.jpg

Sun; waves lapping.
The boat
used to be red.

h_lady_tear.jpg

Streams, rain, even tears,
join and invent the ocean
to reflect moonlight.

h_bowl.jpg

Two girls.
Paper, careful folds -
a bowl of birds.

h_crow_mussels.jpg

Tide widens the shore
revealing mysteries.
Mussels for crows.

h_rose.jpg

The garden is hot.
Walking with her, I smell
our rose from home.

h_moose.jpg

Moose across the lake,
she watches us watching her.
She looks at her calf.

h_tracery.JPG

My eyes follow

the tracery of treetops.

Between earth and sky.

 

h_river.JPG

In the morning,
the river is there.

Still.

h_heron.jpg

Heron: stately, still…
patient offshore silhouette.

Nick barks, heron squawks!

h_sun.JPG

Bright sun;
the lake.

I have to look away.

h_loon.JPG

The shivering cry
of the loon reminds me of love.

And loneliness.

h_raven_branch.jpg

Wing beats in the wind;
raven low over the pier.
Silence of feathers.