light makes greens greener,
and clouds glow brightly; its lack
makes the blues bluer
Light & Color [Haiku]
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Tag Archives: Darkness
Covert Cave [Lyric Poem]
Do you know how deep the darkness goes? No. Chiaroscuro black conceals all but what's divulged by echoes, and figments spastic minds reveal.
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Sundown Ship [Haiku]
as the sun sets, a ship moves out to sea what's ocean dark?
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Shadow of Night [Haiku]
a park at night. the shadows are darker because of the light
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Dark Cave [Haiku]
bats squeak & poop: unseen in the dark, but each sound amplified
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BOOK REVIEW: The Art of Darkness by S. Elizabeth
The Art of Darkness: A Treasury of the Morbid, Melancholic and Macabre by S. ElizabethMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Amazon.in Page
Release: September 6, 2022
As the title suggests, this book collects a diverse group of artworks that share the common theme of the macabre. While most of these works are paintings, a few photos and sculptures are included. Itâs also predominantly Western (European and North American) art, but some exceptions exist, notably several Japanese works are included. Where the collection really shows its breadth is in the styles of art and eras included. The works range from more than half-a-millennium old to some produced within the last couple years, with the expected variations in styles and media, given the centuries covered. The collection is also varied with respect to the popularity of the pieces and artists. Youâll likely see some familiar works (e.g. Fuseliâs âThe Nightmare,â Boschâs âThe Garden of Earthly Delights,â and DalÃâs âThe Face of War.â) However, most of the works were new to me. (Granted, Iâm a visual arts neophyte.)
The pieces are arranged into four topical divisions, each containing three chapters. The subjects include realist content such as: bodily ailments, crime, dark takes on nature, and architectural ruins. However, much of the book delves into surreal and supernatural subject matter, including: nightmares, hallucinations, gods, monsters, ghosts, and magic.
The book lets the art do the heavy lifting, but it does have brief chapter introductions and captions for each piece that includes not only the title, artist, and (if known) the year the art was released, but also some interesting tidbits about artwork and / or artist. These write ups are concise, intriguing, and well-written, and offer some fascinating insights. The book also presents numerous quotes from poets, artists, and other intellectuals.
I learned a great deal from reading this book and discovered some new favorite artworks, art that is beautiful or grotesque but often a combination of both — but always evocative. If youâre interested in how artists depict the darkness in the lives and souls of humanity, you should definitely give this book a looksie.
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The Crossing [Free Verse]
A ship crosses the ocean, in the darkness: darkness, black & endless no moon, no stars, just clouds -- thick & low clouds that can't be seen The ship has lights, but those lights know an event horizon Lights sometime glint against the waves, those roiling & undulating waves, and the lights bounce off the ship's hull But no one can see them, because if anyone could see them, the seers would be seen-- unless theirs is a ghost ship, piloted by literal ghosts, or some other agent of observation Maybe there is fog -- not enveloping the ship, (such mist would be felt on the skin of those on deck) but, rather, a fog between where the ship is, and where is should be For it is surely off course, listlessly drifting, all hope arrayed against edges: edges of ice & edges of the world Not that the world is flat, but, perhaps, it's not fully sculpted: maybe nothing lies outside the range of the seen: outside the bounds of experience It sounds crazy, but all kinds of crazy form in a mind submerged in darkness
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Morlock State of Mind [Lyric Poem]
Living like a Morlock, outside the shaft of light. Lured beyond walls of rock. Mesmerized by blue sky. Loving the thought of blue, but burnt by the mere sight. Praying for an Eloi view, but feeling it's not my right.
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In the Dark [Tanka]
the sun is down and the power is out [fade to black] my view becomes naught my thoughts, anything but
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POEM: Ghosts in the Darkness
I have walked in deep, dark places, and crawled through darker, still -- gas-lit slums long after the dusk, where lamplight failed to spill. So surprised by fleeting faces that faded in and out -- like visions from the sleep-drift, they never loiter about. They come, they see, and then they pass -- these alien observers. They pass with just a fleeting glance, like someone else's server. They care not what you think you need, or who you think you are. You're just an automaton shopper within the grand bazaar.
the !n(tro)verted yogi 