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Dark Poetry

by Alex W. I think the darker side of emotional writing is extremely underrated. When I decide I've been putting off writing poetry for a while, I begin thinking of good topics to make a personal come back with. I usually think of how depressed or not depressed I have been lately, and why. Or I will think about friends of mine who have been having a rough time, and how maybe i can emulate the way they have been feeling, in order to put it into words they sometimes refuse to say out loud. Many of my poems are on cancer, or loss, because I find it considerably easier to pour out my sad and dark feelings, instead of happiness. And when I think about how dark, and deep my poems are, I often wonder whether I'm genuinely depressed, or just have a darker take on life. But to reassure myself, I listen to music, or drink a lot of caffeine, and realize that just because I can write genuinely depressing works, and have them accepted as good, sane works, does not mean there's a depression problem in me, and I instead just have a skill for writing darker poems. I know this article is mostly me rambling on and on, but isn't that what poetry is? Taking all your thoughts and emotions and finding a way to turn them into an elegant work of literature? I think the whole point of darker, deeper poems is just simply finding a way to tap into those deep emotions and feelings, and letting them flow onto paper.