Merton's poetry is passionate and explosive, covering such a vast array of topics that go all way back to mysterious, obscure passages of scripture (usually from the Bible), and all the forward to Pepsi-Cola commercials. So, it makes sense to view Merton's poetry as his attempt to say thinks that he can't quite find the words for in standard prose; it is as if Merton needs to speak in the language of poetry to capture the essence of his deep, profoundly intellectual emotions.
This comes through really beautifully in his patient, humble perception for darkness. He notices for instance that there is darkness in nature. In "The Dark Morning," Merton writes, "This is the black day when/ Fog rides the ugly air:/ Water wades among the buildings/ To the prisoner's curled ear." The scene unfolds with a sense of order: There is dark instead of light, fog and ugly air instead of clean air, and where there should be dry land (perhaps a representation of order), there is a flood amongst the buildings (chaos). To the point of Merton's darkness, watch the position of the speaker—he's a prisoner whose cell is filling with water in a flood. He has been abandoned to die. But Merton doesn't come right out and say that, he makes the reader deduce it, delivering a sense of horror.
This is indicative of Merton's style of writing in general. As a religious mystic, it's Merton's business to disturb the subconscious of his readers, because he wants to evoke deep existential questions which should hopefully convict the reader to be on the side of justice and order, to bask in the love of God, instead of succumbing to the horrifying darkness and terror of a life in the dark.
