Challenging Poetry

South Africa: San Rock Art

I wonder—
what did they think?
I see the marks of ancient hands,
writing dreams and hopes
on cave walls.
my dreams are far away
from Drakensberg,
and when I mark my dreams
with modern hands,
my canvas is less permanent,
but still, we both tell stories.
I wonder—
did they think of a future day
when their memory would be
turned into a poem?

line count: 15

Author's Note ▶︎

The San cave paintings are found in the Clarens Formation--thousands of paintings by the bushmen. There's something about that impulse to make a permanent mark on the world that really speaks to me as a writer. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_rock_art