Lasso

maybe i want to take the breath out of the room

one writer said that when the singer started even the bar got quiet

maybe i want to hold it 

to conduct and confuse tension 

to aim the strange stage light back and 

stun you in honest disbelief

the band starts a disco beat but i dont feel like dancing. even the bar got quiet

in my head and 

i think that maybe i would rather have the 

quiet dark bright later, than see it for a fleeting set. i’m at the last bar quiet. 

i’m paralyzed on the street. 

grounded and transcendental !

i think about leaving it all behind,

maybe i dont see the future like i should

maybe i dont see at all

maybe i dont hear at all

No. i wasnt looking

maybe i am caught up in a silent mind 

occupied by a phrase, a billboard, a painting, a receipt, a callous, a scraped knee, sermon, a headline, or an image from real life or the internet …

i get so caught up in my lasso i forget what i am trying to wrangle.

maybe i want to yield that which holds me so tightly.

i have never spoken so earnestly

it has never been so loud.

This poem was delivered at the opening of the GMOA Wonder Exhibit in April 2026.