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)
