The Dark Room
On a corridor, isolate
I am aware of the Dark Room
Without windows - a required gloom
And the faintest chemical breath
The fat bulb pulses a red threat
Do Not Enter When Light Is On
The door is never seen ajar
And no-one comes out of that place
Nor have I seen the chosen enter.
Even in hours when most are gone
The developers and fixers
Will fuse a quiet alchemy
Of silver, gentling slow atoms
Through a font of found water
To coax a mix of new magic
And the silent birth of image
Living ghosts grinning in the gloom
Swim blind into reality
Surface slowly from solvent deeps
To be fidgeted and hung and drip
It is done. Kodachrome voodoo
Conjuring something from nothing.
The Dark Room stills. The doll may sleep
The red light flickers and snaps out.