The Photojournalism Archive

Cowboy hats catering to tourists line the wall of a Taos, New Mexico store with a neon cactus on the floor.

Mad Hatted Matter

Felt portholes to another dimension

sizing the same seeing. Endless months

     of rising cloth moons.

Symphony of vacant nods. Rain-dappled pond.

Brimmed soap bubbles. Overflowing universe.

     Strutting peacock. Oh, oh, oh,

all this and more under three dozen

     ten-gallon Stetsons. Secrets we can’t tell,

silence saying everything at once

     in this hatted emptiness.