I dreamt the other night that I was a Chacoan singer-astronomer, up on Chimney Rock—wait, context. Remember the Chaco Phenomena, born from a supernova, a comet, and a total solar eclipse down in New Mexico near 1000 AD? A culture, a civilization of roads and great houses, long dances, and outrider observatory great houses—Chimney Rock is in Colorado, and they put it there to watch lunar standstills. In my dream, I’m up on Chimney Rock, but instead of watching the moon and the stars, I’m watching the darkness. but I can’t quite tell whether I’m looking up or down—maybe down, at the darkness in the lowlands. Because suddenly a great Fear has arisen.
You know, the wide open, dancing Chacoans ended up huddling in small groups on top of sheer walled mesa, becoming the Anasazi—Fear that drove them cliff sides and inaccessible heights and walls—till they melted and became the Puebloans.
Did the singer-astronomers see something up there on Chimney Rock? Did the Chaco dances fail to nurture and protect … did the dances create …
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