Haiku on 42nd Street was a project to place senryu and haiku by local poets on the marquees of abandoned movie theaters in the Times Square area of New York City. The project was curated by Dee Evetts. The poems of 26 poets were selected and installed in July 1995 and remained in place through the end of the year. The event attracted national media attention at the time, and a collection of color postcards and a book featuring the theater marquees were later published.
By the mid-1990s the Times Square area of New York City had become a seedy, undesirable neighborhood, and a renovation project was launched to make it more attractive to residents and tourists. In July 1995 senryu and haiku by 26 New York City–area poets were installed on the marquees of empty movie houses on 42nd Street at Times Square. Mounted by the Creative Time public art organization as part of Art on 42nd Street, the project was curated by haiku poet Dee Evetts with the support of the Spring Street Haiku Group. The installations remained on display for six months.
Haiku on 42nd Street attracted widespread public attention and the project was featured in local and national media, including NY1 TV, the McNeil Lehrer Newshour, and The New Yorker magazine. Cor van den Heuvel, one of the participating poets, remembered that “many of the haiku remained there for several years before renovation of the area took place and the old theaters were replaced. [It became] a part of Times Square history.1
The marquees were photographed in black and white by Thom Lang and in color by Richard Hunt. A set of postcards picturing each marquee and a 26˝ x 22˝ color poster combining the postcards and identifying the poets were made available for purchase.
Below are the 26 haiku that were featured on the 42nd Street theaters. The formatting is intended to replicate their appearance on the marquees.
| ANDROGYNOUS STRANGER WINKS AT ME | Karen Sohne |
| DOLL HOSPITAL THE MAN BRINGS OUT A TRAY OF NEW BLUE EYES | Patricia Neubauer |
| ON THE TWELFTH FLOOR A LIFE’S WORK HOLDS OPEN THE BOOK REVIEWER’S DOOR | Martin Burke |
| ORION HAS HE PUT ON WEIGHT? | Carl Patrick |
| CITY STREET MY SUITCASE BUMPS HIS CARDBOARD BOX | Minna Lerman |
| CAR PILED WITH LUGGAGE STRAYING INTO THE FUNERAL PROCESSION | Yvonne Hardenbrook |
| SLOWLY RECOGNIZING A LARGE DOG IN THE CAR AHEAD | Penny Harter |
| DONE THE SHOESHINE BOY SNAPS HIS RAG | Alan Pizzarelli |
| IN THE LAUNDERMAT SHE PEERS INTO THE MACHINE AS THE SUN GOES DOWN | Sydell Rosenberg |
| HOT DAY UNDER TIGHT WHITE SLACKS JUST HER | L. A. Davidson |
| BETWEEN THE MOON AND THE BILLBOARD A JET LINER RISING | Adele Kenny |
| WITH HIS CLIPPERS THE FLORIST PRUNES HIS CIGAR | Evan Mahl |
| MY REFLECTION SPLATTERED BY THE CITY BUS ONTO MY PANTS | Mykel Board |
| WITH A FLOURISH THE WAITRESS LEAVES BEHIND REARRANGED SMEARS | Dee Evetts |
| THE DRIVER PALMS HIS CIGARETTE OPENS THE HEARSE DOOR | Anita Virgil |
| IN GREENWICH VILLAGE TOURISTS ASKING HOW TO GET TO GREENWICH VILLAGE | Bernard Lionel Einbond |
| GOING OVER A BUMP THE CAR AHEAD GOING OVER A BUMP | William J. Higginson |
| OUTSIDE THE DELI PRIMROSES & DAFFODILS I OPEN MY COAT | Perdita Finn |
| HIGH ABOVE THE CITY DAWN FLARES FROM A WINDOW-WASHER’S PAIL | Coe van den Heuvel |
| ALMOST FULL MOON A LUXURIOUS VOICE ON THE ANSWERING MACHINE | Alexis Rotella |
| BACK FROM THE MOUNTAINS A YELLOW HANDRAIL GUIDES ME DOWN THE SUBWAY STAIRS | Clark Strand |
| FIRST SNOW BROUGHT IN FROM THE SUBURBS ON THE NEIGHBORS’ CAR | Doris Heitmeyer |
| SUNLIGHT SHINES RED THROUGH MY FATHER’S THUMB ON THE STEERING WHEEL | Alyson Pou |
| INTO THE BLINDING SUN THE FUNERAL PROCESSION’S GLARING HEADLIGHTS | Nicholas A. Virgilio |
| HER BIFOCALED EYES MAGNETIZED TO THE HEM OF MY TOO-SHORT SKIRT | Ellen Cowhey |
| CRESCENT MOON STREET CLOWN BOWS TO HER LAUGHTER | Anthony J. Pupello |
Compiled by the Haikupedia Editors
Sources / Further Reading
- Evetts, Dee, organizer. Haiku on 42nd St.: A Celebration of Urban Poetry and Art. Cincinnati: Clerisy Press, 2008.
- “Haiku on 42nd Street.” Andy Constable’s Art Collection commercial website, no date: https://www.artworkarchive.com/profile/andyconstable/artwork/haiku-on-42nd-street. Reproduction of the poster with haiku displayed on theater marquees in New York, 1994.
- Lang, Thom. “Haiku and Aphorisms on 42nd Street.” Thom Lang website, March 11, 2013: https://thomlang.wordpress.com/2013/03/11/haiku-on-42nd-street/. Exchange of messages with Dee Evetts clarifying which texts were haiku and which were aphorisms by artist Jenny Holzer remaining from an installation a year earlier.
- Salzer, Jacob. “Haiku Poet Interviews: Dee Evetts.” The Haiku Foundation website, poated July 1, 2023: https://haikupoetinterviews.wordpress.com/2023/07/01/dee-evetts-born-james-william-evetts/.
Related Haikupedia Articles
Spring Street Haiku Group
- Cor van den Heuvel, Facebook, September 26, 2011. [↩]