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