Astonishing answers to unspoken questions revealed! A Lifetime Of Poetry was written by Darlene Smith Barnhardt. The poems are in story form and the first poem was written on April 20, 1938 while Darlene was in the fifth grade. Darlene was a country school teacher from 1945-1947 and taught school in South Dakota. Darlene was married to Leo Barnhardt in 1947 and began writing under the name Darlene Smith Barnhardt. At 78 years old, Darlene continues to write poetry and is working on her second book.