Artists' Work
These pages offer the text to the poems and the background to the pieces that were created by the artists who took part in the first LAByrinth Project SB in 2020-21. We hope to continue offering a space for other local artists to come to create, co-labor-ate, and present original works of art as part of a collective cabaret performance. Click on the drop-down menu above to go to the artist's page.
Go to the "Contact Us" page if you are interested in being part of the LAByrinth Project SB Collective or would just like to leave feedback.
Note: These pages are still under construction. Check back for updates.
Within
"Within"
Written and performed by Joseph Velasco
And so it begins...with this poem
that lies within the shadows of my mind… a lie…a lie!
what do I know of words
this is my heart…my breath
All I can see is what is front of me
A void…
An empty space
So black that all I can see is colors dancing in my mind
Sometimes I see things… shadows…
A trick of light that is not there.
Sometimes I can make out shapes in the void turning
and spinning around like code that my mind cannot unlock.
They seep into my sub-consciousness…
invade my dreams,
and create fantastical disturbing images
that I cannot understand…
I dream here in the void…
No sound
But the sound of my own voice
Echoing in this cavern..
My family sleeps
In their own void…
their own isolated spaces.
The rooms of the house like quiet catacombs in the dark of night.
A brush of a wing outside,
The moon hiding behind the clouds
A distant halo of light trying to break through…
This darkness has been a long time coming…
A world that had been all digital color and light exploding in a political fireworks and bombastic displays of ego and fury…
a cauldron of hate and divisiveness stirred by a man in an ill fitting suit…
round and round and round we went…
round and round the bend, careening on a rollercoaster with no one minding the controls down below…
We were out of control…eyes fixed on our blue screens..like, like, like, delete, like, comment, share.
Like, like...like...heart emoji…
as if this was enough to sustain us…
as if this was enough to feed us.
As if this was enough to get us through the darkness…
As if this was enough...
We carefully curated our lives on our screens as the earth spun in the void around the yellow star as it has for millennia and we believed we were important.
This minutiae was important…
We are important…
we said…
Until…
Until…
Un…til… a crown so small emerged from the primordial mist and invaded our world…one cell at a time…
moving from one host to another like a ghost
spreading like cellular wildfire
leaving tragedy in its wake.
Nations and leaders at a loss.
Cities shut down…lock down…way down…downtown…
we peered through the curtains and tried to make sense of this new world.
We thought we were so important…
We just wanted everything to go back to “normal” but deep down we knew better…
The darkness swallowed the world up like a cosmic eclipse and all we could do was gape and stumble in the dark…
crying out for the light…
crying out for our mothers like George Floyd…
trying to breathe while the pressure remained unrelenting…
The darkness became solid…
like a weighted velvet blanket…
go to sleep little one…
go to sleep…
dream of a better world…
dream of a way out…
But we already were asleep…
lulled by technology and the promise of a shiny world…
Even now I can hear the heavy breathing of us…
of you…
of me…
Breathe in…
breathe within
breathe again…
keep breathing...
