The Ekphrastic Review
  • The Ekphrastic Review
  • The Ekphrastic Challenges
    • Challenge Archives
  • Ebooks
  • Prizes
  • Book Shelf
    • Ekphrastic Book Shelf
    • Contributors' Book Shelf
    • TERcets Podcast
  • Workshops
  • Give
  • Submit
  • Contact
  • About/Masthead

Beyond Fallen Timbers, by Chris Bays

11/14/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture
Tecumseh Barn Art, photo by Chris Bays, Artwork by Browning Design, and Painted by Scott Hagan

Beyond Fallen Timbers
​

White is the dominant tone of this barn painting that is larger than a combine harvester.
On the left side, as from a cloud, a black panther leaps toward a name, the colour of blood,
scrawled beneath its front paws. On the right side is the face of a man that looks white in
the moonlight because of the cherry-pink paint on cheeks and nose. His colonial uniform
adds to the illusion of race – like a white Jesus for a white congregation. But his eyes are
painted black and at an angle to suggest both courage and sadness as they peer past the
panther and across the road to where I am parked by a field. In block letters his biography
is noted: Shawnee War Chief. Gold asterisks like frayed light beneath the panther add a
nice touch for translating his name from Tecumseh to shooting star. However, there are
no depictions of how he and his people were betrayed. I glance into the night. Lights from
suburban sprawl dot the tops of trees in the distance. Those lights belong to Xenia, a city
named after the Greek for “hospitality.” The Shawnee called that city and the surrounding
land the “place of the devil winds.” But it wasn’t those winds that forced Shawnee families
to flee Ohio over two hundred years ago. It wasn’t wind that caused them to stagger
almost a thousand miles with children and elderly on their backs to lands not of their
​choosing in Kansas and Oklahoma. 
 

blazing comet …
a snow-clad field
filled with footprints


Chris Bays

Author's Note: This barn mural is part of the Ohio history barn program created by the Ohio History Connection. Artwork designed by Browning Design, whose work can be seen at dbrowning.com. Barn painted by Scott Hagan, whose paintings can be found at barnartist.com.

Chris Bays is a father, college professor, art lover, chess player, foodie, and trekker. He received 1st place for Best Unpublished Haibun in 2017 and 2020 through the Haiku Society of America. In 2018 his poem “Waiting for Christmas in Ohio” won a Cottage Prize in the Genjuan International Haibun Contest in Kyoto, Japan. His haibun have been published yearly in the Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku from 2017-2019.

0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    The Ekphrastic Review
    Picture
    Current Prompt
    COOKIES/PRIVACY
    This site uses cookies to deliver your best navigation experience this time and next. Continuing here means you consent to cookies. Thank you.
    Join us on Facebook:
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture



    ​
    ​Archives
    ​

    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    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 

  • The Ekphrastic Review
  • The Ekphrastic Challenges
    • Challenge Archives
  • Ebooks
  • Prizes
  • Book Shelf
    • Ekphrastic Book Shelf
    • Contributors' Book Shelf
    • TERcets Podcast
  • Workshops
  • Give
  • Submit
  • Contact
  • About/Masthead