Thursday, October 09, 2014

THE ANCIENT ART OF HANDS

by James Penha



Cave paintings on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi were found more than 50 years ago, but until now the dates of origin were not known. The art shown here has not been dated, but is stylistically similar to other art in the area now found to be around 40,000 years old. Photograph by Maxime Aubert, Griffith University, Australia via National Geographic, October 8, 2014


The hands of these islands
touch me
forty thousand times,
embrace me at lips of steaming calderas,
hold me aloft their seas,
guide me through deepest caves
with open palms ever daring
to paint
our place here.


James Penha edits The New Verse News. He has lived in Indonesia since 1992.