There’s a story in an ancient play about birds called The Birds/And it’s a short story from before the world began/From a time when there was no earth, no land./Only air and birds everywhere.
But the thing was there was no place to land./Because there was no land./So they just circled around and around./Because this was before the world began.
And the sound was deafening. Songbirds were everywhere./Billions and billions and billions of birds./And one of these birds was a lark and one day her father died./And this was a really big problem because what should they do with the body?
There was no place to put the body because there was no earth./And finally the lark had a solution./She decided to bury her father in the back if her own head./And this was the beginning of memory./Because before this no one could remember a thing./They were just constantly flying in circles./Constantly flying in huge circles.
“The beginning of memory”.
Laurie Anderson, Homeland (2010)
Laurie Anderson, Homeland (2010)
from "Memoria y Espacio". Pía Montealegre. 2013