The warm weather here in Tucson has a tendency to bring on spring earlier than some parts of the United States. As winter subsides and summer encroaches quickly, many events take up the streets of Tucson, such as large fairs and concerts. However, one event takes up a very small portion of Congress Street and Stone Avenue.
Amongst the sidewalk and bustle of the city streets, concrete planters rest, housing all types of spring and desert flowers. In these planters reside the event in the form of haiku. Displayed on a glass panel and signed with the author’s name, 20 of these haikus unsuspectingly lay stretched across the street sidewalks of Congress Street and Stone Avenue.
While they remain for only a few months out of the year, these subtly expressive plaques represent a seasonal event known as the Haiku Hike.
Presented by the Downtown Tucson Partnership in conjunction with the University of Arizona School of Poetry, through the partnership’s website, anyone who learns of the Haiku Hike is allowed to submit their Haiku for a chance to be featured among the glass plaques.
According to their website, they receive hundreds to thousands of submissions from across the country despite a majority coming from Tucson. From there, the whittling down to the best 20 or so submissions takes place for their features on the glass plaques.
Valeria Liera was a featured poet for this year and has been part of Tucson’s art community for a long time. “I believe it started back during COVID,” Liera said.
The theme of this year’s Haikus was belonging.
“I really was excited, the poem obviously has a lot of meaning to it,” Liera said. “With dual cultural ties comes a complicated sense of belonging.”
“I was born and raised in the United States, but every day, wherever I go people ask me where I am from,” Liera said. “Even though I am fully Mexican, and I feel that I look it, it’s the same story when I go to Mexico. They ask me where I am from because I dress like an American.”
“It took me a long time to understand that; I don’t need to diminish certain parts of me in order to fit the setting,” Liera said. “I can blend the cultural ties together to form my own unique identity.”
“Tucson being so close to the border, I think there are a lot of people who have the same story.” Liera said.
Melisa Bohlman Ramos is a first time submitter who also received a submission plaque this year. She had learned about it when the annual contest first started, walking through downtown one day she saw one of the glass plaques in a planter.
She described her initial trepidation towards doing a submission. “Art is vulnerable,” Ramos said.
“It’s public facing, and I would not call myself an artist in a traditional sense,” Ramos said. “I liked that the theme, belonging, meant something a little different to everyone.”
The submission themes: belonging, serenity, metamorphosis and even life in the city are all uniquely human experiences. However, to express them and capture it on a clear pane of glass is an experience we do not get every day.
While the sixth annual Haiku Hike has come to a close, you can always look forward to next year for submission opportunities or simply enjoying the winning poetry on the hike.
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