The Ekphrastic Review
  • Ekphrastic Journal
  • About
  • Give
    • Merch
  • Book Shelf
    • Ekphrastic Book Shelf
    • Contributors' Book Shelf
  • Ebooks
  • Submit
  • Prizes
  • Ekphrastic Writing Challenges
    • Challenge Archives
  • TERcets Podcast
  • Writers
  • Contact

The Branded Hand, by Brian Johnstone

9/24/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
The Branded Hand of Captain Jonathan Walker sixth-plate by Southworth and Hawes, 1845. “This Daguerreotype was taken by Southworth Aug. 1845 it is a copy of Captain Jonathan Walker’s hand as branded by the U.S. Marshall of the Dist. of Florida for having helped 7 men to obtain ‘Life Liberty, and Happiness.’ SS Slave Saviour Northern Dist. SS Slave Stealer Southern Dist.” Source: Mass. Historical Society.

The Branded Hand
​

SS Slave Saviour Northern Dist. SS Slave Stealer Southern Dist. 
Inscription on reverse of photographic plate, 1845

 
They printed this in Florida,
a slave state still in forty-five,
its marshal with the power
to mark a man for life. Yet,
 
he can’t have lived for long
till someone in New England
passed comment on his scars,
desired that he submit again
 
to clamp his arm lest moving
spoil the photographic plate
and new technology distort
the marks that he displayed,
 
his palm extended, opened
to their lens. As it had been
to coals, to branding irons,
the double S that found him, 
 
in The South, slave stealer,
thief of someone’s property
he only saw as fellow men
in need. But, in The North,
 
a saviour offering the chance
for freedom crossing borders
meant to those who’d borne
the scars or more themselves
 
in multitudes, unrecorded,
never photographed, but
fixed, as is this single print,
in time, a record of its hand.

Brian Johnstone

Brian Johnstone’s poetry has appeared in Scotland and over 20 countries worldwide. He has published seven collections, most recently Dry Stone Work (Arc, 2014) and Juke Box Jeopardy (Red Squirrel, 2018), plus a prose memoir Double Exposure (Saraband, 2017). He is a founder and former Director of the StAnza Poetry Festival. http://www.brianjohnstonepoet.co.uk
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    The Ekphrastic Review
    Picture

    ​​Find a writer, artist, or poem, etc. by searching here:
    Current Prompt
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    PLEASE SUPPORT US



    ​
    ​Archives
    ​

    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015

    Lorette C. Luzajic theekphrasticreview@gmail.com 

  • Ekphrastic Journal
  • About
  • Give
    • Merch
  • Book Shelf
    • Ekphrastic Book Shelf
    • Contributors' Book Shelf
  • Ebooks
  • Submit
  • Prizes
  • Ekphrastic Writing Challenges
    • Challenge Archives
  • TERcets Podcast
  • Writers
  • Contact