I have a second poem in as many weeks. This time, it is with my seventh grade class and I asked them if I should wrote a poem, too. They said yes, fairly excitedly. One student said I should do that author. She was referring to Edgar Allan Poe and I jumped at that chance. Much more of a fan of Poe than I was of four-wheelers.

I took a bunch of Poe’s works and made them a part of the story. I based it on the Raven, as you may know.

Here is the poem. It has the rhyme scheme of AABCCB

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Poe’s Lament

1

Once upon a night so dreary

Edgar Allan Poe was weary

Sitting in his chamber all alone.

Dreaming of his lost Lenore

Or the lovely Annabel Lee some more

Spritzing the air with their favorite cologne.

2

Breaking the melancholic music of the score.

A gentle rapping, tapping came to the chamber door.

“What’s this?!” exclaimed Poe, flabbergasted.

“There’s something familiar about this,” he said.

As his broken heart was filled with dread.

Across the years of loss and fears, the gloomy feelings lasted.

3

Standing up from his writing desk, Poe cries, “By all that’s holy

If this be that blasted bird, I’ll kill it real slowly!”

Anger swelled within his breast as the irksome tap resumed.

Impatiently, the poet stormed across his chamber floor

Flinging open the door, Poe presumed a raven speaking ‘nevermore.’

No bird fueled Poe’s confusion of which he was consumed.

4

Nervous- very, very dreadfully nervous Poe became

The beating of his hideous heart was partially to blame

Poe was not calmed by the feathery fiend’s truancy.

“That tapping, the gentle rapping was coming from somewhere.”

Thought Poe, glancing around the hallway unaware.

Another creature had stalked past him with great fluency.

5

Cleaning its ebony fur upon the bust of Pallas

A slick black cat glared with eyes full of malice.

Poe covered his eyes and said, “What now?”

As the night was disrupted by the ringing of the bells, bells, bells

Poe screamed, “What do you want, creature of hell?”

And the black cat responded, “Meow.”

6

“Is that the best you’ve got, cat, one cliched word?

At least ‘nevermore’ was unexpected from the cursed bird!”

The black cat disregarded Poe’s raving, refusing to kowtow.

Poe poured himself a glass of amontillado wine.

“Why are you here?” said Poe. “You sent a chill down my spine.”

And the black cat responded, “Meow.”

7

“Creature! Are you a demon or is this but a dream within a dream.”

Poe’s words came out less like a question and more like a scream.

And o’er his heart a shadow fell as he found now

The feline sat on the bust stoically like the Red Death

“Will you lead to the fall of the house of Poe,” said he with a single breath

And the black cat responded, “Meow.”

8

Slumping back into his desk chair, Poe prayed for an end

From the torment and tempest of the works that he had penned.

“I would rather die at the hands of a raging orangutan, POW

Than suffer the indignities of your singular phrase.”

You fancy me mad, he thought, Madmen know nothing- just craze.

And the black cat responded, “Meow.”

9

Dark and brooding images throughout his mind did sprawl

Like disposal of this failure by burying it in the wall

Or tying it to a slab as a pendulum swings in this city.

At the peak of Poe’s macabre mind, in a dark blur.

The black cat leapt down, hopped on to Poe’s lap, and began to purr.

Taken aback, Poe slowly stroked the shiny fur. “Good kitty.”

10

Loss and grief can cause suffering and undo pain

And can lead to a darkness across your brain.

Loneliness can ravage your heart, here and now.

But Edgar Allan Poe and the black cat have each other.

Poe said, “Thank you for filling the hole in my soul left by another.”

And the black cat responded, “Meow.”

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This is the works by Edgar Allan Poe that I either used lines from or took homage of:

Poems: The Raven, Annabel Lee, Eldorado, The Bells, A Dream Within a Dream

Short stories: The Tell-Tale Heart, The Black Cat, The Fall of the House of Usher, The Cask of Amontillado, The Masque of the Red Death, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Murders in the Rue Morgue