Skip to content

News for You

Plans For This Blog

Re-reading My Earliest Poetry

How Emotional Is Too Emotional?

What Does Poetry Mean To Me?

Fjordscene Poetry

Poetry, writing and translations by K-M Skalkenæs

  • Home
  • Blog
  • Guides
    • Poetry Basics
    • Types of Poems
  • Original poetry
    • Poetry, 2015 to today
      • the 30th
      • divisive / dismissive / missive
      • Light Requires Darkness
      • Seen From a Distance People Lose Their Eyes
      • De spor man efterlader sig
    • Poetry, 2010 to 2015
      • Confessions of the Cold Light of Dawn
      • What Bits of Peace My Life’s Ensured
      • Poems Inspired by Paintings
      • Insel des Einzelgänger
      • Poems to Nykteri
    • Uncategorized Poems
  • Translations
    • Edith Södergran
      • Poems
      • The September Lyre
      • The Rose Altar
      • The Shadow of the Future
      • The Land Which Is Not
    • Gustaf Munch-Petersen
      • naked human
      • The Lowest Country
      • Towards Jerusalem
      • Nineteen Poems
    • Edvard Søderberg
  • Prose
    • Short Stories
    • Essays
  • Info
    • About Me
    • About Fjordscene Poetry
    • Data Processing Information
  • Contact

Light Requires Darkness

Publication Info

  • Originally published: 2/7-2018
  • Latest Revision: 11/7-2018
  • Edition: 1
  •  
  • Original language: English

  This collection willed itself into being at a time when I was planning an entirely different writing project, and stayed strong throughout the changes and/or demise of that and other projects I was doing on the side. I never planned it. It willed itself into being.

  I won’t deny that it is essentially one long ode to depression. That should be fairly obvious to you if you made it this far. It reflects my state of mind fairly well I’d say. And that should kind of also explain why the writing of the collection became such a pressing matter that it pushed all other things aside.

  So, well, here it is! An intermission of a poetry collection. Written over a six month period of recuperation and recharging. The first poems (not counting the older ones that snuck their way in) were written in the immediate aftermath of my grandfather’s death, but didn’t fit into my last poetry collection which I were publishing at the time. The newest poems are rounding up everything, just barely making it over the finishing line at the eleventh hour. And now I can write no more of it. The theme is exhausted. Not because there is nothing more to say. Just because my situation has changed, and the sadness and loneliness that fueled the poems no longer extant in my life. Thus, it is done.

  The timing – with regards to this collection – could not be better. It closes a chapter for me, so that I can now allow myself to face squarely forwards.

Categories Light Requires Darkness

Pointless Epitaph

K-M SkalkenæsPosted onSeptember 24, 2018July 13, 2018 Leave a comment on Pointless Epitaph

I write you to life again – I would that you were my friend though … Continue ReadingPointless Epitaph

Categories Light Requires Darkness

Epilogue

K-M SkalkenæsPosted onSeptember 23, 2018July 13, 2018 Leave a comment on Epilogue

  This collection willed itself into being at a time when I was planning an entirely … Continue ReadingEpilogue

Categories Light Requires Darkness

The Light

K-M SkalkenæsPosted onSeptember 22, 2018July 13, 2018 Leave a comment on The Light

The lamp is burning its light is dull – whoever lit it has fled But … Continue ReadingThe Light

Categories Light Requires Darkness

Catalyst

K-M SkalkenæsPosted onSeptember 21, 2018July 17, 2018 Leave a comment on Catalyst

What is the greatest source of inspiration? What can really make you contemplate and urge … Continue ReadingCatalyst

Categories Light Requires Darkness

I Carry the Poems Inside Me

K-M SkalkenæsPosted onSeptember 20, 2018July 13, 2018 Leave a comment on I Carry the Poems Inside Me

I carry the poems inside me no matter what else I do they hum in … Continue ReadingI Carry the Poems Inside Me

Categories Light Requires Darkness

Sculpture

K-M SkalkenæsPosted onSeptember 19, 2018July 13, 2018 Leave a comment on Sculpture

Fingerprints etched with a finely sharpened tool into the stone Someone may have wanted to … Continue ReadingSculpture

Categories Light Requires Darkness

Where Are My Sunsets?

K-M SkalkenæsPosted onSeptember 18, 2018July 17, 2018 Leave a comment on Where Are My Sunsets?

Where are my sunrises? Where are my sunsets? Where are my days? An endless night … Continue ReadingWhere Are My Sunsets?

Categories Light Requires Darkness

Doppelgänger – The Poet About the Woman

K-M SkalkenæsPosted onSeptember 17, 2018July 13, 2018 Leave a comment on Doppelgänger – The Poet About the Woman

She speaks through me, she looks like me but I don’t want to know her … Continue ReadingDoppelgänger – The Poet About the Woman

Categories Light Requires Darkness

The Poet Encounters the Prosaic

K-M SkalkenæsPosted onSeptember 16, 2018July 13, 2018 Leave a comment on The Poet Encounters the Prosaic

Someone once said to me: “Not all of your poems have to be good. After … Continue ReadingThe Poet Encounters the Prosaic

Categories Light Requires Darkness

The Endless Question

K-M SkalkenæsPosted onSeptember 15, 2018July 13, 2018 Leave a comment on The Endless Question

The question never ceases to surprise me – the only one most men have wits … Continue ReadingThe Endless Question

Categories Light Requires Darkness

I Can Resist This! –

K-M SkalkenæsPosted onSeptember 14, 2018July 13, 2018 Leave a comment on I Can Resist This! –

Tenuous grip on sanity – that scent of man – tendons on a turned neck … Continue ReadingI Can Resist This! –

Categories Light Requires Darkness

evening, tired

K-M SkalkenæsPosted onSeptember 13, 2018July 17, 2018 Leave a comment on evening, tired

Thick drops bright red dissolving in tonic water – evening distant buzz fading – tired … Continue Readingevening, tired

Categories Light Requires Darkness

Idealism In Hindsight

K-M SkalkenæsPosted onSeptember 12, 2018July 13, 2018 Leave a comment on Idealism In Hindsight

Though said that I have principles, ideals and dreams of better futures worth the building, … Continue ReadingIdealism In Hindsight

Categories Light Requires Darkness

There’s a Nightmare Afoot

K-M SkalkenæsPosted onSeptember 11, 2018July 17, 2018 Leave a comment on There’s a Nightmare Afoot

There’s a nightmare afoot and I cannot tell if it is a dream or reality … Continue ReadingThere’s a Nightmare Afoot

Categories Light Requires Darkness

Whatever Comes Of It, At Least I Tried, I Did

K-M SkalkenæsPosted onSeptember 10, 2018July 17, 2018 Leave a comment on Whatever Comes Of It, At Least I Tried, I Did

I would write, I would write but I am tired and the words don’t come … Continue ReadingWhatever Comes Of It, At Least I Tried, I Did

Categories Light Requires Darkness

What I Am

K-M SkalkenæsPosted onSeptember 9, 2018July 17, 2018 Leave a comment on What I Am

I am a stray cat nobody wants to feed – I am an echo in … Continue ReadingWhat I Am

Categories Light Requires Darkness

The Restless Darkness

K-M SkalkenæsPosted onSeptember 8, 2018July 17, 2018 Leave a comment on The Restless Darkness

I am a civilized woman, am I not? A product of a state who never … Continue ReadingThe Restless Darkness

Categories Light Requires Darkness

What Is the Value of Life If This Is All It Is Reduced To?

K-M SkalkenæsPosted onSeptember 7, 2018July 17, 2018 Leave a comment on What Is the Value of Life If This Is All It Is Reduced To?

A quiet but merciless centrifugal force of inarticulate gibberish burst from people’s lips around me. … Continue ReadingWhat Is the Value of Life If This Is All It Is Reduced To?

Categories Light Requires Darkness

The Moth Inside

K-M SkalkenæsPosted onSeptember 6, 2018July 17, 2018 Leave a comment on The Moth Inside

The moth inside me yearns towards the people in the crowd with their invisible light … Continue ReadingThe Moth Inside

Categories Light Requires Darkness

Teacher Totally Disenchanted

K-M SkalkenæsPosted onSeptember 5, 2018July 18, 2018 Leave a comment on Teacher Totally Disenchanted

The more I know, the less you seem to know. I used to think you … Continue ReadingTeacher Totally Disenchanted

Posts navigation

Page 1 Page 2 … Page 4 Next

Recent Posts

  • New Poem: “Upstream Battle”
  • New Poem: “What’s New?”
  • New Poem: “leaves fell unapologetically”
  • New Poem: “i would dance if i could”
  • New Poem: “fatigue hums through empty air”

Tags

Ageing Alienation Anxiety Art Beauty Change Communication Contemplation Death Depression Disillusion Dreams Family Growing Up Home Hope Identity Integrity Interconnection Ironic Isolation Life Loneliness Longing Loss Love Melancholy Memory Nature Peace People Poetry Scenery Self-reliance Sensitivity Society Technology Thoughts Time Transience Truth Unrequited Love Visions Wanderlust Writing

Categories

Pages

  • About fjordscene.com
    • Data Processing on Fjordscene.com
  • About Me
  • About My Poetry
  • Contact
  • Support Fjordscene

Recent Posts

  • New Poem: “Upstream Battle”
  • New Poem: “What’s New?”
  • New Poem: “leaves fell unapologetically”
  • New Poem: “i would dance if i could”
  • New Poem: “fatigue hums through empty air”
  • New Poem: “i know that i know nothing -“
  • New Poem: “In a Small Country”
  • New Poem: “flyby–“

Search poems

Categories

Copyright © 2021 Fjordscene | by K-M Skalkenæs
Home>Poetry> Archive for Category: Light Requires Darkness
Scroll Up