Stephen Crane (1871 - 1900) is an American writer best known for his story "Red badge of courage" about the American Civil war although to me some of his other short stories (e.g. "Maggie: a girl of the streets") are more interesting.
His poetry, for reasons I can't fully articulate, gripped & blew me away (particularly the one below). I learnt later that he was very interested in, and influenced by Japanese poetry (like Emily Dickenson some of whose stuff I also think great).

You can find more of his poetry at http://www.americanpoems.com/poets/stephencrane/

I walked in a desert.
And I cried,
"Ah, God, take me from this place!"
A voice said, "It is no desert."
I cried, "Well, But --
The sand, the heat, the vacant horizon."
A voice said, "It is no desert."

aaaaaaah YES!
Always liked this man' s poems.
Short and pithy, very troubled, and very troubling. You cannot walk away from Stephen Crane as though you were never there. He sinks deep into you.

The best of the lyric writers of his time. That his time didn't know it... well, that is such an old story, and been old so many times about so many people.

Good one, Paul!