The Oblique Angle of Time

Every act of memory is an act of forgetting. 

 

The tree of memory set its roots in blood. 

 

In forgetting lies the liquefaction of time.
—Lewis Hyde, Aphorisms

A grotto in the Ochocos holds rock paintings. How and when the cave has been occupied, the impulse shaping the graphic rock paintings, remains unknown. This deep, obscure cave, on private property, requires permission. 

To view details, click on photo to enlarge

 

These red ochre-based paintings envisioned with clear focus and intention. The markings appear to be done using fingers or a softened twig as a brush. The style similar to others on rock faces scattered at various places in central Oregon. Likely influenced by the traditions of the indigenous peoples of the Snake River (moving west) and/or Columbia River (moving south) regions.

 

To decipher the invisible: to recall not the past exactly but the atemporal suchness of things, their otherwise obscure being. —Lewis Hyde in A Primer for Forgetting

 

Below, at the deep end of the cave fire blackening carbon stains the ceiling and walls.

 

It has nothing to do with loneliness, for loneliness presupposes memory. Here, in this wholly mineral landscape lighted by stars like flares, even memory disappears; nothing is left by your own breathing and the sound of your heart beating. —Paul Bowles