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Robert Lindley
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A few of my quotes over the years:

 

Listing A Personal View Of What Poetry Is

1. Poetry is a stone, turned to expose to searching winds of a once hidden earth.
Robert J. Lindley

2. Poetry is art, mind painted, heart colored and fire risen.
Robert J. Lindley

3. Poetry is a fruit, hanging on a bountiful tree, begging to fall.
Robert J. Lindley

4. Poetry is an ever expanding ocean, begging ever more creatures to swim in its swirling depths.
Robert J. Lindley

5. Poetry is cake on a golden platter, eaten with fork, spoon, butter knife or greedy hands.
Robert J. Lindley

6. Poetry is cherry blossoms, crying for the soft, cool winds to wave their beauty to the awaiting sun and the gasping skies.
Robert J. Lindley

7. Poetry is glistening dewdrops falling upon virgin ground to gift dawn's hope and night's desire to match brilliance of glistening moonbeams.
Robert J. Lindley

8. Poetry is a poet's heart and soul uniting to bless others, while temporarily shielding searching souls against this dark world's poison tipped arrows.
Robert J. Lindley

9. Poetry is brightly sent musical notes that heart sees, mind colors and spirit longs to record.
Robert J. Lindley

10. Poetry is ink blotted, soul driven splashes that cry to be read, beg to be understood and unabashedly sing to give to its dear readers.
Robert J. Lindley

11.Poetry is a colorful bird, in heavenly flight to a paradise that awaits man's sincere pleading heart and desirous spirit.
Robert J. Lindley

12. Poetry is a child happily playing, a mother joyfully singing and a father blessed to have and so very dearly appreciate loving both.
Robert J. Lindley

Robert J. Lindley, 7-17-2018
Subject, ( What Poetry Is)

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My biography will be very limited for now.   Here , I can express myself in poetic form but in real life I much rather prefer to be far less forward  I am a 60 year old American citizen , born and raised in the glorious South! A heritage that I am very proud of and thank God for as it is a blessing indeed ~

Currently married to my beautiful young wife(Riza) a lovely filipina  lady and we have a fantastic 7 year old son, Justin ~

I have truly lived a very wild life as a younger man but now find myself finally very happily settled down for the duration of my life~

I decided to rest here and express myself with hopes that it may in some way help others, for I see here a very diverse  and fine gathering of poets, artists, and caring folks~

Quickly finding friends here that amaze me with such great talent~~

I invite any and all to comment on my writes and send me soup mail to discuss

whatever seems important to them ~

Words On The Need For And The Benefits Of Dark Poetry.

Blog Posted by Robert Lindley: 9/5/2023 6:28:00 AM

Words on the need for and the benefits of Dark poetry.
I write dark poetry, but this blog is not about my writing it-- rather it is about the importance of acknowledging it as a part of poetry and its importance in that position. I feel that far too many poets think dark poetry is a monster, a beast, a thing to vilify and shun.
In this blog will be one list of over a hundred famous dark poems by a great many truly famous and acknowledged legendary poets!
To better understand the love and blessings of Light one must know about and understand the depths of Dark and its Evil in this world (IMHO),
(as both are realities).
Of course dark poetry may not be everybody's cup of tea and that too is perfectly fine(with me).
However, should it not be at least recognized as an important part of poetry , with the many, many legendary poets that wrote dark poetry, Poe being a leader among that elite group? 
Also here below are more links to famous poets,(*and some of their very famous poems*),  that wrote great dark poetry.

https://www.poemhunter.com/poems/dark/page-1/13349/

1.A Challenge To The Dark , Charles Bukowski
2.Traveling Through The Dark , William Stafford
3.In A Dark Time , Theodore Roethke
4.Gacela Of The Dark Death , Federico García Lorca
5.From The Dark Tower , Countee Cullen
6.Childe Roland To The Dark Tower Came , Robert Browning
7.Chant For Dark Hours , Dorothy Parker
8.I Wake And Feel The Fell Of Dark , Gerard Manley Hopkins
9.To A Dark Moses , Lucille Clifton
10.We Grow Accustomed To The Dark , Emily Dickinson
11.The Dark Forest , Edward Thomas
12.Another Dark Lady , Edwin Arlington Robinson
13.My Soul Is Dark , George Gordon Byron
14.Dark Dark Girl , kyle potter
15.The Dark Girl's Rhyme , Dorothy Parker
16.Under Her Dark Veil , Anna Akhmatova
17.Dark In Me , Brian Dorn
18.The Dark Hills , Edwin Arlington Robinson
19.The Dark Day , William Carlos Williams
20.Written Near A Port On A Dark Evening , Charlotte Smith
21.The Bird With The Dark Plumes , Robinson Jeffers
22.In The Dark Pine-Wood , James Joyce
23.The Dark Hour , William Henry Davies
24.The Dark House , Siegfried Sassoon
25.Not Quite Dark Yet , Yosa Buson
26.Behold, As Goblins Dark Of Mien , Robert Louis Stevenson
27.The Dark House , Edwin Arlington Robinson
28.The Dark Well , Ronald Stuart Thomas
29.Dark Mountains , Sandra Fowler
30.The Dark One Is Krishna , Mirabai
31.That Dark Dweller In Braj , Mirabai
32.Dark Trinity , Robert William Service
33.Dark Truth , Robert William Service
34.Dark Spring , Yvor Winters
35.Dark Poetic Mind , Uriah Hamilton
36.When The Dark Comes Down , Lucy Maud Montgomery
37.I See Thee Better—in The Dark , Emily Dickinson
38.Senlin: His Dark Origins , Conrad Potter Aiken
39.Dark Glasses , Robert William Service
40.Dark , farzana hossain
41.(e) 3 (Dark) The Dark Night , Renu Rakheja a.k.a Tranquil ..
42.And Here Comes Dark , Yasmin Rubayo
43.(e) 13 (Dark) This Is The End , Renu Rakheja a.k.a Tranquil ..
44.(e) 10 (Dark) The Spiderweb , Renu Rakheja a.k.a Tranquil ..
45.(e) 6 (Dark) Inside My Love, Die! ! , Renu Rakheja a.k.a Tranquil ..
46.Lonely In The Dark , nouri black
47.The Dark Secret Borne , Joanne Monte
48.The Dark Stag , Isabella Valancy Crawford
49.Dark Girl , Uriah Hamilton
50.Dark Moon Rising , A.J. McKinley
51.Ah, Yesterday Was Dark And Drear , Mathilde Blind
52.A Dark Dark Night , ritty patnaik
53.(1) Gonzalo Rojas To Someone Listening .. , Luis Gil de la Puente
54.Dark Supernatural Skills , Uriah Hamilton
55.(e) 2 (Dark) The Abyss Beckons , Renu Rakheja a.k.a Tranquil ..
56.The Dark Companion , James Brunton Stephens
57.Dark Night , Frank Bidart
58.Remarks On The Bright And Dark Side , Benjamin Tompson
59.The Dark , Kathryn Thompson
60.Dark Rosaleen , James Clarence Mangan
61.On The Dark, Still, Dry Warm Weather , Gilbert White
62.Through The Dark Sod—as Education , Emily Dickinson
63.(e) 1 (Dark) The Night's Highway , Renu Rakheja a.k.a Tranquil ..
64.A Dark Evening , Richard Ansell
65.My Wheel Is In The Dark , Emily Dickinson
66.Dark Dark Moon...... , Rowving Smith
67.The Dark , Aldo Kraas
68.Dawn And Dark , Norman Rowland Gale
69.(e) 8 (Dark) The Vampire , Renu Rakheja a.k.a Tranquil ..
70.Crying By Nights On Dark Evenings , Vernazera Lumba
71.Love In The Dark , Mick Lines
72.Dad, Dark Demons, And Memories , Not Long Left
73.Contemplating Dark Angels , Uriah Hamilton
74.Sitting In The Dark , Jake Gassiot
75.Your Dark Side , John Kipling Lewis
76.! The Dark Cloud Of Depression , Michael Shepherd
77.Dark Dreams , Sunnie Lodstar
78.The Dark And Me , Andrew Rose
79.Wings Of Dark. , Bernard Shaw
80.Dark Soul In The Broad Daylight , nimal dunuhinga
81.Dark, Dark, Dark , Shirley Hanley
82.Lurking In The Dark , Gary McPhail
83.Dark Wood, Dark Water , Sylvia Plath
84.Baghdad After Dark , Ted Sheridan
85.Dark Of The Night... , Geoff Warden
86.Dark Science With A Light Meter , Chuck Audette
87.Dark Crows , Barbara James
88.Dark Tempest , ~~~ Leaven ~~~
89.Song.—if Those Dark Eyes , Louisa Stuart Costello
90.In The Dark Mirror , Suchoon Mo_
91.Dark, More Dark , Gajanan Mishra
92.Dark Nights , Brandon Chiles
93.Come And Play In The Dark , blood red angel
94.Shivering In The Dark , Trade Martin
95.They Only Know Each Other In The Dark , DAVID GERARDINO
96.Haiku - Jewel In The Dark , john tiong chunghoo
97.Dark, Dark Dream Of Scare... , DEEP DARK SOUL POET
98.The Dark Life , Joshua Adisa
99.In The Dark Alleyway , Charles M Moore
100.Dark Angel , Steve Armstrong

***********************************************************
http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/thematic_poems/dark_poems.html

Under Her Dark Veil by Anna Akhmatova
Senlin: His Dark Origins by Conrad Aiken
The House Of Dust: Part 01: 06: Over the darkened city, the city of towers by Conrad Aiken
The House Of Dust: Part 02: 01: The round red sun heaves darkly out of the sea by Conrad Aiken
The Door in the Dark by Robert Frost
An Electric Sign Goes Dark by Carl Sandburg
My Country in Darkness by Eavan Boland
Behold, As Goblins Dark Of Mien by Robert Louis Stevenson
From the Dark Tower by Countee Cullen
In the Dark Pine-Wood by James Joyce
The Dark Hour by William Henry Davies
Dark Night by Frank Bidart
The Dark Forest by Edward Thomas
When the Dark Comes Down by Lucy Maud Montgomery
The Night is Darkening Around Me by Emily Bronte
Night is Darkening Around Me, The by Emily Bronte
Written near a Port on a Dark Evening by Charlotte Smith
Childe Roland To The Dark Tower Came by Robert Browning
Through the Dark Sod -- as Education by Emily Dickinson
Not quite dark yet by Yosa Buson
Darkness by Lord Byron
My Soul is Dark by Lord Byron
My wheel is in the dark! by Emily Dickinson
We grow accustomed to the Dark by Emily Dickinson
I see thee better -- in the Dark -- by Emily Dickinson
Halls grew darker by Aleksandr Blok
A Prayer in Darkness by G. K. Chesterton
Through a Glass Darkly by Arthur Hugh Clough
His Heart was darker than the starless night by Emily Dickinson
Light Shining out of Darkness by William Cowper
But Men Loved Darkness rather than Light by Richard Crashaw
Could that sweet Darkness where they dwell by Emily Dickinson
by
The Darkling Thrush by Thomas Hardy
Dark August by Derek Walcott
In Memoriam A. H. H.: 7. Dark house, by which once more I s by Lord Alfred Tennyson
Dream Song 62: That dark brown rabbit, lightness in his ears by John Berryman
Dark Trinity by Robert William Service
Dark Glasses by Robert William Service
A Challenge To The Dark by Charles Bukowski
Friends Within The Darkness by Charles Bukowski
I was in the darkness by Stephen Crane
Dark Truth by Robert William Service
I Wake And Feel The Fell Of Dark, Not Day by Gerard Manley Hopkins
Moonless darkness stands between by Gerard Manley Hopkins
It's Dark in Here by Shel Silverstein
Gacela of the Dark Death by Federico Garcia Lorca
Early Darkness by Louise Gluck
Heron Rises From The Dark, Summer Pond by Mary Oliver
In A Dark Time by Theodore Roethke
Light and Dark by George William Russell
The Dawn of Darkness by George William Russell
The Dark House by Siegfried Sassoon
The Bird With The Dark Plumes by Robinson Jeffers
Dark Prophecy: I Sing Of Shine by Etheridge Knight
The Dark and the Fair by Stanley Kunitz
Traveling Through The Dark by William Stafford
The Dark Hills by Edwin Arlington Robinson
The Dark House by Edwin Arlington Robinson
Another Dark Lady by Edwin Arlington Robinson
Chant For Dark Hours by Dorothy Parker
The Dark Girl's Rhyme by Dorothy Parker
In Darkness by Amy Lowell
The Dark Cavalier by Margaret Widdemer
When the Evening Darkens by Raymond A. Foss
Darks, Whites, and … Pinks by Raymond A. Foss
Dark Place by Raymond A. Foss
In the Dark by Raymond A. Foss
DARKIES by John Lindley
Wild Dark Love Song by Sharmagne Leland-St. John
It’s Dark, I Cannot See by Gary R. Ferris
Dark Shadow by Gary R. Ferris
In the Dark of Night by Raymond A. Foss
In the Dark Places Where She Dwell by Raymond A. Foss
Arguing in the Dark by Raymond A. Foss

************************************************************
http://www.thehypertexts.com/The%20Best%20Sad%20Poems%20Dark%20Poetry.htm


The HyperTexts

Dark Poetry: The Best Poems about Death, Pain, Loss, Grief, Sadness, Madness, Depression and Despair

Which poets wrote the best sad, dark, melancholy poems in the English language? Some of the best poems of all time are sad, dark, haunting poems about suffering, despair, loss and death. This page contains great darker poems by masters of the genre such as Conrad Aiken, William Blake, Elizabeth Bishop, Louise Bogan, John Clare, Hart Crane, e. e. cummings, Emily Dickinson, T. S. Eliot, Robert Frost, George Gordon Lord Byron, Thomas Gray, Thomas Hardy, Robert Hayden, Robert Herrick, A. E. Housman, Langston Hughes, Ben Jonson, John Keats, D. H. Lawrence, Louis MacNeice, Edna St. Vincent Millay, John Milton, Richard Moore, Wilfred Owen, Dorothy Parker, Ezra Pound, Christina Rossetti, William Shakespeare, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Wallace Stevens, Sara Teasdale, Dylan Thomas, Thomas Wyatt, Elinor Wylie and William Butler Yeats. Some of the darker poems are the perfect poems for Halloween! 

compiled by Michael R. Burch
Please keep in mind that this page reflects one person's opinion, for whatever that's worth .

My Trinity by Robert William Service
For all good friends who care to read,
here let me lyre my living creed . . .

One: you may deem me Pacifist,
For I've no sympathy with strife.
Like hell I hate the iron fist,
And shun the battle-ground of life.
The hope of peace is dear to me,
And I to Christian faith belong,
Holding that breath should sacred be,
And War is always wrong.

Two: Universalist am I
And dream a world that's frontier free,
With common tongue and common tie,
Uncurst by nationality;
Where colour, creed and class are one,
And lowly folk are lifted high;
Where every breed beneath the sun
Is equal in God's eye.

Three: you may call me Naturist,
For green glade is my quiet quest;
The path of progress I have missed,
And shun the city's sore unrest.
A world that's super-civilized
Is one of worry, want and woe;
In leafy lore let me be wised
And back to Nature go.

Well, though you may but half agree,
Behold my trusty Trinity


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Date: 9/6/2023 4:37:00 PM
Poetry is a place you get lost in to find yourself, to 'feel' something. One could say it is all cerebral. But it is to 'feel' something, whether you are the poet or the reader (in music lyrics sung, the "listener"). The poet, the writer ... is sharing their thoughts and feelings with the universe on another level. Revealing their greatest vulnerabilities as some sort of cathartic alm towards understanding and empathy, or there for the grace of God go I. Perhaps a confessional place where they commune with themselves and readers will acknowledge that similar darkness and light within themselves and not feel so different, or alone. This is the way of all writing, whether it is about joy, or despair.
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Labyrinth Avatar
Lady Labyrinth
Date: 9/6/2023 7:34:00 PM
Poetry is another language to carry the psyche through the various dimensions of dark and light. It is an abstract built-in mechanism for most poets/musicians whether they write limericks, long tomes or lyrics, to cope with living and the measures of existing, life and death, love, loss, to understand, to make sense, to find answers, to feel. Poetry and writing, conveys a story, written by the writer for the writer, intentionally or ignorantly unaware they are sharing their psyche, with the reader. It is a form of journaling. The beautifully precious and precocious Anne Frank comes to mind, her poignant and profound writes of Light came in the darkest moments of her young life. All stories written and lived are Light and Dark. Some are geared more towards exposing the light, as they reveal dark. Humour is both Light and Dark; perhaps in some instances humour is borne from dark. To experience Light, dark exposes itself, subtly or confronting. Without night, there is no morning.
Labyrinth Avatar
Lady Labyrinth
Date: 9/6/2023 4:40:00 PM
Thank you for sharing Lindley. I notice with your blogs you invest quite a lot into the research. Amazing and admirable. Quite a few of the poets you mention in your list, I have not read, so will look into. Thank you.
Labyrinth Avatar
Lady Labyrinth
Date: 9/6/2023 4:38:00 PM
https://www.annefrank.org/en/anne-frank/diary/complete-works-anne-frank/
Labyrinth Avatar
Lady Labyrinth
Date: 9/6/2023 4:38:00 PM
https://edition.cnn.com/2016/11/23/europe/netherlands-anne-frank-poem-auction/index.html
Labyrinth Avatar
Lady Labyrinth
Date: 9/6/2023 4:38:00 PM
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/37994/we-have-not-long-to-love
Labyrinth Avatar
Lady Labyrinth
Date: 9/6/2023 4:38:00 PM
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45472/i-sing-the-body-electric
Date: 9/5/2023 4:17:00 PM
AH, the darkness, the cathartic cavern between the light and the light switch.....or something like that.....I shall have to peruse this list as I do so enjoy a bit of the darker side of poetry
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Lindley Avatar
Robert Lindley
Date: 9/5/2023 5:28:00 PM
THANK YOU, MY FRIEND. That is a very good list. I have further researched names on that list that I did not know before. God bless.... s
Date: 9/5/2023 8:09:00 AM
Take a good look at all those famous poems by very famous poets. They are each a dark poem. Those poets knew so well, that to appreciate the light one must know about the dark.
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Lindley Avatar
Robert Lindley
Date: 9/5/2023 1:43:00 PM
There are those that think poetry can be represented by two limited divisions- Light poetry and Dark poetry.

Previous Blogs

 
I am taking a short vacation
Date Posted: 9/25/2023 6:28:00 AM
BLOG- On one of my favorite Wordworth poems
Date Posted: 9/20/2023 9:55:00 AM
Linked article on 19th Century Poets
Date Posted: 9/18/2023 3:33:00 PM
Blog: Does Classical Mythology Have A Place In Contemporary Poetry?
Date Posted: 9/9/2023 12:35:00 PM
New Blog, Why Dark Poetry Fascinated So Many Famous Poets..
Date Posted: 9/7/2023 7:53:00 AM
Words On The Need For And The Benefits Of Dark Poetry.
Date Posted: 9/5/2023 6:28:00 AM
The Fifth Poet, in my famous Poets Series, John Keats
Date Posted: 8/31/2023 1:19:00 PM
A Blog On Life And Poetry.
Date Posted: 8/29/2023 11:35:00 AM
5 Writers Who Blur the Boundary Between Poetry and Essay "Poets are the Hoarders of the Literary World"
Date Posted: 8/29/2023 11:20:00 AM
Man, What A Delicious Gob-smacking Dream I Had Last Night
Date Posted: 8/28/2023 11:58:00 AM
Blog on , Thomas Hardy
Date Posted: 8/17/2023 9:26:00 AM
Blog, What Is Modern Poetry? by Alan Rankin
Date Posted: 8/12/2023 3:13:00 PM
Blog On Poetry And Truth, Think
Date Posted: 8/5/2023 5:06:00 PM
Blog on next two poets chosen to be honored in my, Second Poets Tribute Series
Date Posted: 8/3/2023 7:00:00 AM
Blog On Coleridge, A Brilliant Poet That Every Poet Should Know
Date Posted: 7/26/2023 8:06:00 AM
3 poems and a prayer, O' yes from 1973
Date Posted: 7/11/2023 2:18:00 PM
A Blog on the magnificent poet Alfred Noyles
Date Posted: 7/10/2023 10:18:00 AM
BLOG ON Shelley Notes on Percy Bysshe Shelley's A Defense of Poetry
Date Posted: 6/30/2023 3:19:00 PM
Blog, Recently Written Words, Hoping To Revive My Poetic Spirit
Date Posted: 7/4/2022 4:38:00 AM
Blog, A Hebdomad Of Poetic Thought, Musings And Deep Internal Pain
Date Posted: 5/15/2022 9:20:00 AM
Blog, ( Ancient Times, Some Fragments And Poetic Memories )
Date Posted: 4/21/2022 7:24:00 AM
Blog,A Menagerie Of Verse, Rhyme, And Meandering Thoughts
Date Posted: 4/10/2022 8:20:00 AM
Blog- To write, to not lose my sole remaining small joy amidst this darkest sea, this horrendous cavern of epic pain, mournful loss and deepest of darkest sorrows … RJL
Date Posted: 3/7/2022 7:04:00 AM
Death comes to my beloved wife.
Date Posted: 2/27/2022 9:49:00 PM
Why I am away from this poetry site, Loss of my beloved Brother... God bless one and all
Date Posted: 2/19/2022 4:27:00 AM

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Book: Radiant Verses: A Journey Through Inspiring Poetry