36 Views Of Ononta'kahrhon: "Wearing Nature As Her Veil." by Michael Conner

Monday, June 12, 2017

"Wearing Nature As Her Veil." by Michael Conner

"Walking in the rainy-day."
© Mark W. Ó Brien 2016

Saturnine mood swings of a regal, revered outcropping, lurking behind the shielding thicket of surrounding brush... Ononta'kahrhon remains demure and aloof yet stalwart in her resolve to keep gawkers at bay.

Wearing nature as a veil to help belie the arrogance of eons of upward thrusting granite, ...perpetually molding, chiseling, sculpting a profile recognized by the constituent inhabitants scattered in her visual wake for miles around.

No bawdy wind whipped, snow capped peaks to scream "mountain"...but rather a more subtle ...and humble posture as one who prostrates themselves in solemn prayer.

arid plains so flat

writhing in jealous contempt

of Cradle Hill’s poise

2 comments:

M.C.June 18, 2017 at 6:04 PM
....love the concept of this project. Thanks for letting me participate.
ReplyDelete
Replies
©️Mark W. Ó BrienJune 18, 2017 at 10:10 PM
Thanks M.C.! And I really appreciate your contribution! 👍🏻
ReplyDelete
Replies

Add comment

About this blog:

For years I have been taking pictures of the Mountain/Hill that dwarfs the little hamlet in which I live. To date I have taken hundreds of images.

From my limited knowledge of Mohawk I have created a new name for Bennett Hill. I have done so because after taking hundreds of photographs of it, living in its presence for years, I have a fondness for and a curtain reverence of it that the current name does not impart or embody for me.

Because this was once Mahican land that was lost to the Mohawks after their war in the 1600s local indigenous names for locations are few. What there are are descriptive names given by the Mohawks when transacting the locations sale on documents such as the Slingerlands Patent for the purpose of indicating boundaries.

At some point over the years the outline and shape began to resemble the Haudenosaunee invention of a craddleboard to me. So, following the formula indicated on the Slingerlands patent I have researched, found and created what I feel to be an expectable and useable Haudenosaunee compound word that I have begun to refer to it as.

From Ononta: meaning Hill and Kahrhon: meaning Craddleboard: I grammatically gathered the two as a compound Mohawk word creating: Ononta'kahrhon. Meaning: Craddleboard Hill.

Pronounced: Ononta-kahr-hon.

This idea was inspired by the work of Katsushika Hokusai's woodcut series "36 Views Of Mount Fiji." I would like at some point in the near future to collect 36 of the best captures in a short run hand bound Art quality book entitled: "36 views of Ononta'kahrhon." (Craddleboard Hill.)

The format will be 71/2 x 14 perfect bound with a photo on the right and a Haibun on the left facing page. I would like to have 36 of photos and 36 Haibuns by various poets to accompany these photos.

Mark~