The emergence of consciousness in humans is followed by marks, scratches in rock, then images, what we might call Glyphs. On a road in upstate New York, I discovered marks that were evidence of repairs and in certain lights they morphed into clear images, as though unconsciously the workers were making artistic interventions in the world. The words here are excerpted from a longer poem, Taxonomy, that I began working on at the same time as these images began to shape themselves. The whole sequence – words and images – is an exploration into the mystery of chthonic states.
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Name it desire
Name it hunger
Name it need
Name it deed
Name it shame
Name it human
Name it invocation
Name it song
Say, more, yes, more
Name it the darkness before the rain
Name it a black face painted for spirit
Name it a boy next to a leopard
Name it vertigo
Name it awe
Name it ash
Name it incense
Name it smoke
Say, Ase baba, Ase.
Name it Tuareg
Name it Blue
Name it Tea
Name it first cup, strong like death
Name it second cup, sweet like life
Name it third cup, sugar like love
Name it Timbuktu
Say, Africa is our heart
Name it the light at a tomb’s entrance
Name it dark womb inside
Name it a lone figure walking
Name it snowed in boulevard
Name it a child playing in the rain
Name it sunny afternoon
Name it waterfall at dusk, a downward blade of flame
Name it the green gloam of bamboo grove
Name it an old woman blind in one eye
Name it afternoon light on a carved temple door
Say, prayers can kindle light
Name it birds in the rain
Name it unknowable
Name it mystery
Name it circus
Name it white cloth
Name it staircase to nowhere
Name it Buddha
Name it Dogon
Name it Derrida
Name it blade
Name it baldhead
Name it duppy
Name it Babylon
Say, conqueror
Name it the Red Pavilion Name it Angor Wat
Name it Christ of the Abyss
Name it a stone idol under a tree
Name it Everest
Name it a mountain
Name it whisper
Name it sigh
Name it smoke
Say, may we never die
