Forgotten Landscape, Luke Dollar, February 2006

Like I said, How can you NOT find inspiration in a cemetery?

Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland is a park of sorts.  It sits at the top of Piedmont Avenue and overlooks the city of Oakland and the shimmering San Francisco Bay.  One can find a strange comfort in knowing this peaceful place is where ones body will begin eternity. 

There are parts of the cemetery that are unendowed, and I would say "completely neglected".  There are gravestones that are broken, toppled, and missing - all scattered about.  It is a jumbled mess of graves and weeds and tiny critters. 

But there is a rare near-silence in the air.  There is the call of a stunning bluebird in the trees above. In the sun you can see insects buzzing and spider tracks criss crossing the Forgotten Landscape.  The broken bottles and casual trash is evidence of the living.  Somehow, this place is still very much alive.

And though these people rest in a Forgotten Landscape, I feel I can remember them by simply visiting them.