Thursday, March 15, 2018

101 Books, Number 11


Favorite Books Throughout My Life


11: The Portable Edgar Allan Poe, 2006 (orig. pub date: 1945), by Edgar Allan Poe (1809–49)

It’s really hard for me to think
Of time so long ago
When I had never heard of him,
Of Edgar Allan Poe.

It seems as if I’ve always known
About his famous tales—
They scared me long before I read
Them, and the scales

Of innocence fell from my eyes.
Before I’d read a word
Of his amazing poetry,
I knew about that bird,

That raven and its “Nevermore!”
Oh, such a great surprise
The first time that I read those words
I’d later memorize.

My classes later read some tales*—
We memorized some verse.
We read of death and loss and fear
And horror and of curse.

Such happy things to teach about!
But students liked to read
The workings of his unique mind—
Yes, that I must concede.

I wrote his bleak biography
Not all that long ago**
And got to visit many sites
Once frequented by Poe.

I stood in awe in Baltimore
Where his remains now lie
And thought about creative minds
And how they find the sky

And live there for eternity—
As long was we can read.
Their works are planets, glowing stars—
And all of them we need.

** “The Tell-Tale Heart,” “The Purloined Letter,” and others
**Edgar Allan Poe: A Biography (Kindle Direct, 2012), a YA title

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