Born of line

Figures born of line 

familiar in shared simplicity

Of longings lost intent

Striving stilling falling.

Poised.

Arriving as we do on an edge we will not see.

Memory dissolves where does time go?

Journey we may whisper.

Contingencies of Stone

Peoples moving through country 

placing stones in angular embrace

constellating vague terrain

mineral clouds congeal silence

molten oxides spark red patina 

flaming brown starkly russet

each stone accidentally 

atomic star-light dusted 

lichen brushed… hushed… 

shaped shadows drifting

ghosts eluding gravity 

… no more messages

A Matter of Experience

These placed stones, near Dry River, the terrain of the central Oregon lavalands, are among uncountable thousands encountered over many years of wandering around sagelands — SE Oregon, Central Oregon, NE California, NW Nevada.  Placed stones as I use the term is one species in the complex descriptive genus referred to as rock features, for example:  rock cairns, rock piles, stone circles, ring sites, ambush drive walls, kill or traps sites, “vision quest” structures, “prayer seats,” “medicine wheels,” cache pits, rock art sites.  Yet, nothing is as it appears…

Consider: World Observation

“In the first place, an observer observing herself in the act of the world observation will quickly realize that the results of her observation (her respective experiences) will depend on the different points of view accessible to her, and as there are always exists a potential infinity of such points of view, it follows that there will also be a potential infinity of representations (experiences) for each object of reference."

— Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht, from Three Notes on Contingency Today (2022)