Special Showcase with Arrowhead Union High School: Part Two- Bill Traylor

​The Ekphrastic Review is pleased as punch to present ekphrastic work from Arrowhead Union High School. Teachers Elizabeth Jorgensen and Terri Carnell love to engage their writing students with ekphrastic lessons and exercises, and we have the very difficult task of choosing a few selections and publishing them.

There were five artworks. Today is part two of five parts, with selections corresponding to each painting.

To all of the students who participated: we applaud your creativity and your courage. You wrote your hearts out! You all took risks, contemplating and interpreting a famous work of art, being brave enough to interpret it in your own way. You let the art inspire your imagination in new ways. 

It was an extremely difficult task choosing a few from many for each of the artworks. Congratulations  to each and every one of you on your words. We hope this taste of ekphrasis opens for a you a lifetime in relationship to visual art and literature. 

A Couple, by Bill Traylor (USA) c. 1940

Two Pieces Make a Whole

He wears the pants,
she wears a dress.
Two pieces make a whole.

She points at what she wants,
he carries the items she already has.
Two pieces make a whole.

He loves her,
She loves what he provides.
Two pieces make a whole.

His potential is untapped,
she holds him back.
Two pieces make a whole.

She wants a new dress,
he can’t help her.
One piece can’t make a whole.

Slowly, his deep blue turns into a light brown,
Her dirt brown turns to a lonesome gray.
He makes his own whole, he is the whole she needs.

Ethan Cornell

​**

My Childhood

The first thing I do in the morning is dart downstairs to, 
 eat breakfast while listening to my parents go back and forth about their days.
 My dad is dressed in a blue-collar suit ready for his business trip.

My mom is on the edge of her seat because she’s stressed.
With all the kids, she has to drop them off, feed them, and pick them up from school.
My mom is annoyed at my dad because he is always on the road.

Every time they are together, they fight.
They have no love for each other anymore—only bickering.
I wish I could go back to when I was younger when they weren’t fighting.

It's an everyday cycle,
so I have gotten used to it.
I don’t know if I can stay here much longer.
I am going to ask Grandma to take care of me.
I just want my parents to get along like we used to in the past

 Jonah Kroll

**

The Colours of A Couple by Bill Traylor 

Reuniting after a hard day,  
He arrives home from work. 

She awaits him with resentment. 
With sadness, He approaches her. 

She is filled with a deep, raging red.
Him, he shows a dark blue complexion.

While He was stuck at his job, 
She had to await his return all day. 
 
A marriage usually surrounded by warm yellows
has pigmented moments of darkness. 

A relationship that is often healthy 
has rare times of hardship. 

Through love they will work it out. 

By giving care and support for each other, 
they restore the golden colour within themselves. 
 
Ryann Steinbauer

​**

Woman of the House

Dad is the best person I know.
The simplest, most caring, most un-problematic person I know.
Although I feel like he is only that way around me.

They look unhappy.
All I see, Dad getting home from work.
Same blue coat like blue hour in winter, 
same midnight black top hat, 
same charcoal briefcase.
Eyes wide open like caught by surprise,
as yelling and ranting of Mom’s discomforts.

Mom,
same cheetah print dress,
same rust coloured apron,
same Pointy heels, sharp almost like freshly sharpened pencil.
Eyes locked on the broken step in the stairs, pointing aggressively,
demanding Dad fixes it.

Dad as tired and as bad of a day he had,
just looks at me from afar, and nods.
Not knowing that I know he doesn't want to fight in front of me.

Jairo Alavez

**
​
Does Money Really Buy Happiness?

Briefcase in hand, he’s off to work again.
The dark sapphire blue suit contrasts his deep coal skin.
He stares at me, eyes bulging as if they might fall out.
I put my hand on my hip where my brown fur vest meets my leopard print dress,
say goodbye, and await his return.

Yesterday, he came home with a new gold Gucci handbag.
The other day, he surprised me with a new Whirlpool dishwasher.
Last week, he drove home a new luxury Mercedes for me. 
Nowadays my only source of slight happiness is gifts. 
And I fall into darkness when he leaves.
Leaves me again in this dark empty house, all alone.

Maybe life would be better if he just realized.
If he just realized that money doesn't buy true happiness.
If he realized I was pointing at the future, not a new designer dress. 
If he realized all I truly want is a husband.
Not a husband to buy me whatever I want.
Just a husband to share my love with.

​Katie Curry

**

Our Flight!

“Bob, we missed our flight again!”
Bob dressed in dazzling butterfly blue stood in silence.
The truth about a perfect couple. 

“Margaret, we need to leave!”
“Just a minute Bob!”
“Bob, we're late again!”
The truth about a perfect, everlasting couple.

What's the truth about a perfect, everlasting, lovely couple?
“Margaret, let's get something to eat.”
“I am not hungry Bob.”

“Bob I am starving, why didn't you get any food earlier!”
The truth about a perfect, everlasting, lovely, wholesome couple.

The truth about a perfect, everlasting, lovely, wholesome, wonderful couple is she is always right.
What's yours is HERS and what's hers is HERS.
It's always said that a happy wife, a happy life.
The truth about a perfect couple.

Trenton Inglish

​**

What Has This World Come To

A man is at work. He works in the city with a lot of other people, yet he is all alone in his life. He feels that nobody loves him and he struggles with that every day of his life. He always wears the color blue because it is his favorite color. It represents sadness which describes his world. Each and everyday feels the same for him. Get up, work, and go home. He works in a very large building with a lot of individual offices and it is almost as if his world is fake. His world consists of himself and his job which all feels the same. He does not know anything more than his job and his home. He is depressed like a dark cave, his family is not there for him, he only wears the color blue, and he works with no excitement going on in his life. He does not have friends, which makes him feel more safe everyday. He feels as if he is never really awake and is always tremendously too tired.

A woman is at home. She is a stay-at-home mom and only has one child. Her daughter is very young, and the woman is always there helping her. Each day her daughter has the same problems. Problems such as sleep and food. Her daughter is always hungry and can never sleep. Yet the mother struggles to be able to support her daughter, she always tries her best. Everyday she picks a new outfit, the one she picked today is her favorite. She wears a brown shirt and a skirt with a brown and light brown pattern. She wears her sweater under her shirt that consists of the same pattern. Everyday feels the same for her. She struggles to have a realization of the real world because she is always at home with her daughter and never gets the time to go outside. Sometimes she thinks about it, but worries that her daughter will be sad without her. She needs to be there for her at all times, and wants what is best for her. She feels as if she is never awake and is always tired.

January 4th, 1940. The man just finished his job, packed up his bag, grabbed his umbrella, put on his hat, and walked out the door. He is headed home once again, to repeat his nonstop cycle of his daily life. The woman realizes that she has run out of food for her daughter; although, the grocery store is right across the street. Her daughter only needs more fruit, and the woman knows exactly where the fruit is in the store, so she is confident that she will be home in time to take care of her loved one. 

She decided to go get her daughter more food.  She puts her heels on and leaves. The heels she wears on her feet are so tall that hurt her ankles, but she wears them for fashion.

The two are walking on the street, the man is walking home, while the woman is walking in the opposite direction. Each of them feel a rumble beneath their feet and start to worry.

Boom! All of the sudden, a huge thunder roars from above. Just as the two are about to cross each other's paths, the woman screams and points in the air. The man freezes in fear and looks up to what the woman seems to be pointing at. A huge dark gray airplane flies above their head, seemingly low in the sky. The plane's engine is so loud because it is very close to the ground. As the two look up in terror, all there is to see is a warzone in the sky right above them. What has this world come to?

Seth Adamson