Imagine sitting around a campfire telling stories. Now imagine it is 40,000 years ago. The shaman draws symbols on the walls of your shelter in sacred ochre. Sometimes she draws deep in the cave in mystery. Sometimes she makes ritual marks denoting a major event in the life of the band. Sometimes she seems to just be doodling. You see the result of her work everywhere you turn - you know the symbols by heart. Yet that takes nothing from the drama as she invokes them now. The flickering firelight throws long shadows on the walls of the cave and the glyphs dance as her story unfolds. You hang on every word.

If you let yourself slip into imagination, you may quickly realize that you and these ancients are not so very different. You might even catch an ephemeral whiff of their presence at your side. These connections across vast time fascinate me. I feel linked, hand by hand, and there is such comfort in being part of this great fabric of humanity, in knowing that my urge to create is as old as human existence.

Glyphs I represents my cave walls, my flickering firelight, my communion with my ancient sisters.

ancient mother hand
inks wall with precious ochre
indelible mark

firelight kisses art
ghostly echoes across time
gently graze my soul

i open my heart
welcoming the threads that bind
grasp your hand in mine

you and i the same
speaking our very being
hoping to be heard

Created by Wanda Oliver (wandaoliver.tez) in Oct., 2022.
It is largely due to josemiguel.tez that I have joined the fx(hash) creator community, a contribution acknowledged with this collaboration.

This work is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.

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