Tell Me What Thy Name Is on the Night's Plutonium Shore

I have rediscovered Edgar Allan Poe. I tried reading him as a child starting with Fall of the House of Usher. Apparently that language and vocabulary for that one was a bit too much to grasp. When I was a teenager and getting into goth, I tried again with some of his short stories and quiet enjoyed them, and we studied the poem Annabel Lee in school and I quite enjoyed it's tone of both pride and despair.

I also couldn't forget watching Vincent Price reading "The Raven."

Later on, I took a liking to his classics, "The Black Cat," "The Tell-Tale Heart" and "The Masque of the Red Death." I'll never forget the Masque of the Red Death because I never knew it would the starting point of an incredible discussion with a blue eyed model at a club outside 3am. I couldn't compete with the other babes in terms of having hot legs but when it came to Masque of the Red Death--I could definitely score points.

Then I discovered this absolutely delicious 2 disc album "CLOSED ON ACCOUNT OF RABIES" which has Gabriel Byrne reading "Masque of the Red Death," Diamanda Galas reading "The Black Cat," Christopher Walken reading "The Raven," Iggy Pop reading "The Tell Tale Heart" and the late Jeff Buckley doing "Ulalume." This lovely volume has kept me company on many a late night walk.

Just this year I found these lovely books in the children's section of Fully Booked--Edgar Allan Poe's stories superbly illustrated by one of my favorite book illustrators (along with Brett Helqvist, Edward Gorey and Tim Burton) GRIS GRIMLY. Again, I found and enjoyed my favorites as well as some new ones like "The System of Dr. Tarr and Professor Fether" and "Hop Frog."

Edgar Allan Poe died on October 7, 1849 at the age of 40. But he left stories that, at least with me, never grow old.