aging – FEMININE COLLECTIVE

Recycled

March 10, 2025March 10, 2025 TAK Erzinger

I’ve gone through many lives as a little child, I was a fresh garment sewn together with purpose I’m trying to remember when it changed. Repurposed I was used day in and day out: partner, confidant, parent, sitter but I couldn’t fit into those shoes and was injured by the Read more

Going Gray

August 14, 2021August 14, 2021 Eloisa Perez-Lozano

You want to be a part of me, your absence of color like spider’s silk growing, surrounded by a sea of dark strands, lonely. Patiently, you wait for me to find you, but my job, chores, phone calls, and the rest of routine that comes with family keep me distracted Read more

Searching For Home

August 11, 2021August 11, 2021 Tom Lagasse

At night, after my day as a spice merchant concludes, the smell of garlic and onion dust coats my clothes and body like a new skin, as though I am someone different. I do not shower before visiting my parents, my scent melds with their age and confinement. My mother Read more

I wasn’t here.

January 10, 2020January 10, 2020 Elizabeth Regen

You didn’t see me.I wasn’t saying anything.You didn’t hear me.The time passed.So much of it good-Quality.But I wasn’t present…Lives created, grown and graduated- Inside of me.Through me-From me- But I had nothing to do with it.Because…I wasn’t here.You can’t see me in photos.That wasn’t me.Skinny.Blonde.West Coat.I’m rounder now.Dark hair.And East Coast by Read more

Walking Warriors

June 6, 2018June 11, 2018 Mary Penner

One cane in each hand, she’s doing the best she can One foot forward, then a tap, she’s going to do a lap At ninety-three, she keeps on going, while knowing Her tomorrows are few, but she is determined to do What it takes to feel alive, so she continues Read more

Falling Out

April 18, 2018May 7, 2019 Alice Barstow

Will I stop disappearing if I get Botox, or whiten my teeth, or thicken my thinning hair with extensions? Will I stop disappearing if I highlight under my eyes or draw in my eyebrows? What if I strap on tights, a push-up bra and high heels? Will I stop disappearing Read more

Great Game Changer

March 28, 2018October 15, 2018 Ann Christine Tabaka

Once … Once upon a time … Once upon a time there was a vibrant young girl, full of passion and ambition, full of pride and self-worth. Time … Time is the great thief. It beats you down when you are ill-prepared. It takes more than your youthful appearances, it Read more

Agony Column

December 21, 2017May 7, 2019 Susan P. Blevins

Dear Glutton for Punishment, How much longer are you going to put yourself through hell with this man? You’ve been dating three years now, you’re 38, and he’s 54. No problem at all, except that you want to get married and have children, and he absolutely does not. He’s never Read more