West Chicago poets featured in online gallery of original Haiku

While COVID-19 took center stage last year and disrupted everyday life and its daily routines, many West Chicago residents discovered their own creativity through a project of the West Chicago Cultural Arts Commission, and provided hope and positivity to others through the ancient art form of Japanese Haiku.

More than 100 Haiku yard signs installed throughout town celebrated the little everyday miracles of our natural world.

So inspiring were the messages from the Summer Haiku project which were transferred onto magenta colored yard signs, the call for Autumn Haiku followed and resulted in an even larger collection of resident submitted Haiku.

These were placed on bright orange yard signs which are currently on display throughout town where they will remain through the end of this year.

An online gallery was created by the city to display the words of wisdom, hope and positivity contained in the Summer Haiku that came directly from the community.

The gallery will be expanded in early 2021 to include the Autumn Haiku, and the pages will remain a permanent part of the Public Art section of the city's website, westchicago.org/arts.

To learn more information or become involved with the cultural arts commission's efforts to connect the greater community to the arts, contact staff liaison Rosemary Mackey at rmackey@westchicago.org.