Thursday Night at the Center: Motherlode by Kimberly Dark

Volcano Art Center welcomes author Kimberly Dark on Thursday, December 3, at 6pm, at Volcano Art Center Niaulani Campus in Volcano Village, for a reading from her new poetry collection, Motherlode.
Motherlode is Kimberly’s fifth book and second poetry collection. She was a resident of East Hawaii for twenty-five years until moving to the mainland last year to be with her grandchildren. This is her first return, and her only reading scheduled for Hawaii island this year.
This poetry collection—at turns poignant, funny, hopeful, and always accessible—navigates the journey of chaos and care that every family member of a dementia patient has lived. In Dark’s particular case, the disease forced an intimacy with her mother that neither would have chosen willingly. They failed each other numerous times and yet chose an ongoing relationship. This too is love. As a sociologist, Dark could have written a very different book about dementia or loss—she has the training for it. Instead, she chose poetry. The path through impossible circumstances is not found in analysis alone. It is found in the space where grief and tenderness meet—where caring for another becomes inseparable from caring for yourself.

When dementia enters a family, every member is deeply affected. While the pain of watching a loved one gradually disappear is often discussed, what happens when the relationship was already complicated? Sometimes, the disease doesn’t steal something precious, but dismantles the careful negotiations a mother and daughter have built over decades. The silences, the deflections, the rules about what could and could not be said seem impossible to dissolve—and yet, Motherlode shows how love and care are what prevail.

Learn about Kimberly and her other books at www.kimberlydark.com.

This evening is part of a once-a-month Thursday night series at the Volcano Art Center, focusing on art, Hawaiian culture, and our environment. The series is intended to inspire, enhance your appreciation of art and life experience, while fostering community connections. This presentation is free, although a donation is greatly appreciated.