I am drawn to cairns.
cairn n.
A mound of stones erected as a memorial or marker.
The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
I love that cairns are signals of human presence, of attention and time. Someone placed rocks, one on top of the other, fitting them together, balancing individual pieces into a whole, and making a little alter to those who came before or who might come after.
I noticed these two cairns in my daily travels. The one on the left appears and then gets knocked down. But it always eventually reappears. The one on the right is newer, sturdier. They make me happy each time I see them. I like to imagine the hands that made them.
I think writing is the building of cairns. We carefully stack words together, making meaning out of raw materials. We write to erect a memorials, to mark our presence here, and to guide those that follow us.
What cairns have you made lately?
Textual Play 