What else is this, this intricate shape of air?
calling me, calling you.
—Anne Sexton
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Above and below, petroglyphs – carved into, or emerging from, cliff faces in the Tulelake basin, Modoc County.
Upper photo: "Sun" high on the cliff illuminating carvings of bear-paw motifs.
Last year, the remains of four Modoc warriors, who were buried at Fort Klamath after being hanged in 1873 by the US Army, were exhumed by Modoc and Klamath descendants.
After cremation, the ashes were taken to the high points on the Peninsula cliffs at Tulelake, near these ancient rock carvings, and dispersed in the winds.
Kintpuash, known as Captain Jack, was one of the four warriors.
Below: Stone-Spirit ghosting, Peninsula, Tulelake, October 2026.
—Ursula Le Guin
There was a word inside a stone.
I tried to ply it clear,
mallet and chisel, pick and gad,
until the stone was dropping blood,
but still I could not hear
the word the stone had said.
I threw it down beside the road
among a thousand stones
and as I turned away it cried
the word aloud within my ear
and the marrow of my bones
heard, and replied.
Above: the painted-in incisings can be seen in the center of the photo below at the base of the cliff (click to enlarge)
