Sunday, June 11
THE CAVE Done with darkness, someone had the idea to fashion a lamp from stone. Animal fat. Flint. They held the lamp in front of them. Light no longer behind them. Light in front of them. Light flickering. Retreating shadows revealed curtains of stalactites. Calcite-rich clay. Eroded moonmilk. Someone had not so much arrived at their destination but for the time being decided that where they were---where the idea had taken them, where they permitted the idea to take them, where they permitted themselves to be taken---was just as good as anywhere to be. (Sometimes that's all there is: this.) Then someone had another idea. They ground hematite in an ochre-stained shell. They sucked the pigment into their mouth with a bird bone. They swished the powder back and forth. They became light- headed. Between darkness and light someone found a wall history had set aside for them. They placed their hand on the wall. They blew paint on their hand. Someone thought, This was the best idea I've had. (Paul Tran)