Introducing Curbside Haiku
To celebrate its first year of operations, Downtown Tulsa Partnership partnered with Magic City Books in summer 2022 to decorate Downtown Tulsa with poetry communicating Downtown’s vibrancy and inclusivity. Haiku submissions were solicited among Downtown stakeholders, and 10 were selected, printed on yard signs and temporarily installed in the public right-of-way throughout Downtown.
Downtown Tulsa Partnership commissioned Tulsa artist May Yang to design a backdrop for the winning haiku.
About the Artist: May Yang
May Yang is a Tulsa-based artist, printer, designer, and business owner. She works with printmaking and mixed media techniques to produce work that processes the information overload common in our digital age.
May graduated from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2008. While there, she interned for Dolphin Press & Print, the school's print workshop, where she assisted in printing editions for Jon Rappleye, Jane Kent and Faith Ringgold. Continuing her interest in collaborative printmaking, May attended the Tamarind Institute of Lithography in Albuquerque, New Mexico and earned her Professional Printer’s Certificate. May has participated in a number of juried and invitational group shows, including IPCNY New Prints, OVAC’s 24 Works on Paper (2011 & 2022), and Momentum Tulsa Spotlight. May participated in a number of group shows with Tulsa’s ETA collective, a group of early to mid-career artists working in a variety of mediums, until the group’s dissolution in 2018. Following a long hiatus from creating personal work, May fell in love with painting murals and found it to be a gateway to developing a creative practice again. May is one of OVAC’s Fellowship Award recipients for 2022.
Outside of her art, May owns Flash Flood Print Studios, Tulsa’s artist-led, community-driven print shop.
The Winners
Other Submissions
Busy people pass,
Lucky few survey the scene.
Art Deco beauty.
— Ronda Falkensten, It’s Been There
The pulse of Downtown throbs
for all who walk her streets.
Philtower Gargoyles breathe.
— Emma Livingston, Inhale, Exhale Tulsa
Our downtown Tulsa
Energy, diversity
A city we love.
— Margo Mitchell, Tulsa Vibe
Skyline warm with the
Expansive intimacy
Of small journeys home
— Max Nobel, Abiding in Light
Red brick, red brick stands
Strong sheltering new colors
Tulsa blooms anew
— Margaret Hartley, Perennial (Tulsa Arts District)
Sprouts come to life on green wood stems,
souls resurrected in burnt black soil.
— Bob Baker, Tulsa, OK 74114
Meeting the moment
Engaging and embracing
Witness its greatness
— MT Sea, Tulsa Time
acknowledge our past anticipate our future
community vibes from Route 66
a backdrop of Art Deco funky Tulsa thrives
— Gena Nelson, Tulsa Vibes
may the peace, here, be proportional to the past ashes, in the street
— Mason Kiser, Rectification
In the green woods of Tallasi night and day share shadows.
— Kaveh Bassiri, Neighbors
A winding path of men's voice
circles back to the center of universe
— Seungho Lee, The Center of Universe
Walking downtown, sun and dust,
workers and wanderers, a friend of ours.
— Seungho Lee, Walking Downtown
Standing on a circle,
Windless days and nights passing by,
Suddenly, I heard.
— Seungho Lee, The Center of Universe
Delicious and chill,
Boston Title and Abstract,
Everyone welcome!
— Erica Janczak, Miss This City and Restaurant!
Map of Curbside Haiku Locations
COMING SOON