Around here, we dwell in the dark side of romance aka the Dark Verse--an old literary term that has been thrown around a lot lately...

But, what is Dark Verse?

Okay, this is our little ode to where dark verse gets its name.

So, "Dark Verse" has a double meaning...

It pertains to the morally grey or gothic universe of dark romance and dark fantasy books, but poetic "dark verse" is where the term originates.

I like this quote from Bram Stoker winning dark verse horrormance poet, Sara Tantlinger:

“Dark verse lends itself to healing because it is so unmasked... Horror is beautiful in its raw ability to examine the things that we often don’t want to hold a lens to.”

Tantlinger says her first poetry collection, Love for Slaughter, allowed her to dig into a catharsis she needed at that time in her life, and gave her the freedom to play around with the concept of ‘horrormance’ and just create for fun. “It was like an exorcism of things past,” she says, “plus inspiration to keep creating.”

And let's hear it from the Bram Stoker nominee, Jessica McHugh:

“Human emotions are so complex, and many of us don’t have the vocabulary to express everything roiling inside our minds, or how strange it is feeling like these whirling thoughts actually exist beyond our minds, in our souls, or even right under our skin. Dark verse helps us put names to these feelings."

“One of the coolest things about creating blackout poetry is working within another writer’s vocabulary,” says McHugh. “It provides the opportunity to build unexpected figures of speech in poems while expanding my own lexicon through a more hands-on approach. This is especially fun when using dark, evocative fiction like Frankenstein and Wuthering Heights because you can paint a picture that might convey the longing or horror of the original text but in a pithier way that maximizes the playfulness and/or pain in the piece.”

Whether poetry or fiction, dark verse, or the Dark Verse, readers can expect a journey into shadowy gothic places, dark & gritty settings, and painfully beautiful, tortured characters. Dark Verse is the moonlit playground we love to haunt.

Are you an author with some delicious dark verse to share?