Early Morning Haiku

Micah Schwaberow

Printmaker Micah Schwaberow studied color woodcut in Japan with Toshi Yoshida. Schwaberow uses a very subtle palette for this woodcut of a serene sunrise in Northern California. It appears to be low tide and the foreground shimmers with reflected light, while in the center a river glows with a blue. A flock of birds are the only elements that create a sense of motion.

Schwaberow compares the composition of this image to a "Haiku" a short form of Japanese poetry, the essence of which is "cutting" and the form most often composed, in English versions, of three unrhymed lines of five, seven, and five syllables. A haiku often features an image, or a pair of images, meant to depict the essence of a specific moment in time.