Page 67 - GIC Manifesto.m

“Language and literature involve sacred matter and sacred places,

places of deepest mystery and ancient vision. Among sacred places

in America, there is one that comes to my mind as I think of that

anonymous man who painted upon the face of rock. At Barrier

Canyon, Utah, there are some twenty sites upon which are preserved

prehistoric rock art. One of these, known as the Great Gallery, is

particularly arresting. Among arched alcoves and long ledges of rock

is a wide sandstone wall on which are drawn large, tapering

anthropomorphic forms colored in dark red pigment. There on the

ancient picture plane is a procession of gods approaching inexorably

from the earth. They are informed with irresistible power; they are

beyond our understanding, masks, if you will, of infinite possibility.

We do not know what they mean, but we know that we are involved

in their meaning.”
N. Scott Momaday/Tsoai-talee,

Kiowa Pulitzer Prize-winning Author.