Ochre Sediment
Charcoal-smudged ochre clings to the grooves of a fossilized ammonite shell, resisting the gentle scrape of a thumb. These carved marks behave like shifting tectonic plates beneath the touch, offering no steady ground but instead providing a texture that changes with every movement. One may choose to reclaim these suppressed names or simply accept them as an inherited weight. In this quiet labor, identity reveals itself not as a solid monument, but as a stack of slate slabs tilting precariously upon a bed of heavy grain.