When I was in high school I had a very bad habit of ditching class only to be found at the local coffeehouse. There were two reasons I was at the coffeehouse: I wrote poetry all the time and school was not challenging for me. What was challenging, was the works of Edgar Allan Poe. Poe inspired a briefcase-full of my writings of teenage love and angst, but that is a story for another day. Today’s story is how some things never change; those things are my love of coffee and my love of Edgar Allan Poe. For me, right now, in this moment, true happiness is coffee in a Poe mug.

Let’s go back to my high school days when I was buried in cappuccinos and Poe: my pen was alive, inspiration was drawn from the foam and espresso swirling in with Poe’s words.

Since those days my poetry writing has waned, but I have never stopped writing. I wrote over the years in the many places I have traveled and the quiet moments at home. The words just have a way of spilling out when there is a cup of coffee next to me.

That is not to say that I can’t write without coffee but it seems to help. Here’s to the symbiotic relationship between my writing and coffee. Thank you coffee for being there with me all these years.

And Poe, well he is one of the main reasons I got a post-graduate degree in Literature. It took a long time to get to this place; the place where harnessed darkness dwells. That place is the dark mixture of sugar and cream in my Poe mug. These are a few of my favorite things.

This post was originally written 01/31/2016

Someday I hope to make it to the Poe Museum in Virginia. Until then I’ll drink my coffee from my Poe mug and wear my Poe shirt and harness the man that inspired me to write.

Cheers to you Mr. Edgar Allan Poe!