A visual representation of "Hero Tree" by Kit Fan
CHONG Wai Hei
St. Paul's Secondary School
I used warm and brownish tones to depict the warm summer morning at school as well as the ebony trunk
and branches of the tree while making sure the rouge and red flowers,
together with the cicadas, stand out as they represent “life” on this “lifeless-looking” tree.
I also added a few elements of fantasy, including the actual “Yangtze River Dam”
outside the window since the poem, to me, is like a mix between realities and dreamland
for the speaker. I made sure to juxtapose lifeless objects with the live subjects
to highlight the contrast between the hero tree and the speaker, against the bland desks.
to highlight the contrast between the hero tree and the speaker, against the bland desks.
Hero Tree
From the classroom window,
the summer’s aorta revives in the dark
hero tree. Bark ideogram,
ember-tinted, no trace of leaves.
A family of four cicadas homes in
on its tall ebony nakedness:
something for a long summer song.
The white chalk stub U-turns
on the wide blackboard, hissing out
a map of Confucian morphemes:
stone-classics that were chiselled
for the eye looking straight into the heart.
Fans spin overhead, ripe dozy hours.
Our heads bow, fishing for cancelled
valleys lost to the Yangtze River Dam.
Kit Fan
“Hero Tree” was published in Paper Scissors Stone by Kit Fan, p.20. Copyrights © 2011 by Hong Kong University Press.