Dark Room was published online in 2025 by @theagecollective, an organization that exists to challenge ageism and celebrate the depth, complexity, and significance of growing older. 

DARK ROOM

I’m in the basement, purging.
I’m sluicing, dodging, burning,
sorting through decades of detritus.
They call it downsizing.

I’m pouring memories into a plastic tray
and swirling to see what comes up.
There are my old friends: pain and disappointment.
There are my younger faces, traced with rue and worry.

And then, speckled with years, streaked
with tears, softened by grace, today’s face,
emerging from the negative.

I dust off my hands and shut the door
on this dark room of memory.
No more downsizing for me.

Today I’m enlarging,
wide open to the light.

Photo Credit: Katherine Matiko