209 / Nemrut Dagh

We reached the site of Nemrut Dagh quite late in the day,

with a walk to the top of the hill where Antiochus I had erected

statues of himself & the old gods, 

as well as a large hill/tumulus of fist sized stones,

which surely must have been broken up in situ..

maybe this kind of rock will shatter like that

He was the ruler of Commagene from 70 to 38 BC,

it lay between the Roman & Parthian empires

so he'd have been a clever negotiator

a wide view from the 7000 ft hill

& a lovely glow at sunset

Posed here in 1883, Osman Hamdi Bey,

was a painter & had a lot to do with setting up the

marvellous Archeological museum in Istanbul.

(I picked up some time-tripping tourists on the glass case)

& again, on site.

An interesting site about it

26/ first from iMac

Although I made these 3 on my old pc,

this is the first time I've posted from the iMac

it's all slower in that I'm getting to know it/am a slow learner

& a little nervous to do the wrong thing

that's why I've made another version of the flaming swords

(protection !).
Red paintings: Sea Hyun Lee

15/ pause

There's a great archeology museum in Istanbul, with
pieces from much of that area's history.
I moved the twin sphinx so they
could experience a night at the museum

& another wonderful collection filled my eyes with
exquisite detail that later flitted over marble panels..
it's such a multi-layered city,
lending itself to labyrinthine thoughts..

14/ travel

Often, there, I felt the pull of history
as one does in a place of myth & legend.
Also a welcome.

These time travellers were gentler visitors in a way,
except when they weren't..

It's the cross-overs, the overlaps of ideas, dreams, myths ~
like the spark of neurons firing
in unexpected ways ~ that really interests me in images.

13/ overlapping times

Perhaps the sculptor of this chimera really saw it.
Now it sees the flocks of sheep, & prepares to dine..

an inter-dimensional event
horizon..what does that mean?

As the trees wave in the wind, if you are ready,
you can sometimes catch a glimpse of former times.

12/ earth memory

Someone wrote their name in stones, across the hillside
now just "I AM'' remains.

We can have these ideas of leaving something tangible
of ourselves,
earth has it's own timetables & destinations.

10/ there be dragons

It was a remote volcanic lake, silent, still,
tears were running down my face as I stood gazing
back to a simpler time.
Pre-human.

Traces of those times are harder to see now

You must be quiet, catch small movements from the
side of the eyes: be open to marvels.
It's in that uncharted area, off your known map:
~ there be dragons ~

09/ earth memories

In this far-away land, the hills are drenched in history.
There are sites still to be rediscovered. 
One that is now a dig
was perhaps a temple, 11,000 years ago.

Such an intense presence on the top of that hill.

I felt these connections, somewhat like in dreams,
not so much a leap of imagination as a dropping into
~ to a time of beginning.

Hard to describe in words. 
The old vessels have been pieced
together & placed in museums. 
The earth itself remembers.

08/ when a story comes

When a story comes, the words fly from somewhere else
into your mind, & then somehow onto a page,
or out of your mouth.
Into your wings.

The story comes by it's own path, sometimes from so far off.
Even if you can't quite hear the words,
you can sense the gift of it.

I like the ones that spring from the earth,
the stories that have been hiding in faraway places
waiting for just this moment
to alight as birds.