Sunday, January 29, 2012

Classic Bad Photography Sunday: Poe

I'm not one for the macabre.  Yet, I've always fascinated by Edgar Allan Poe.

The man was immensely talented.  Unfortunately, he was also a train wreck.  Poe spent much of his life in one of my favorite places, Baltimore.  That's where he died at the age of 40.  Poe is buried at Westminster Church, just blocks from the Inner Harbor.

Above is a picture of the Poe monument in the church's courtyard.  The body is actually elsewhere on the property.  I took the picture early on a spring morning in 1987.  As you can see, the sun was not my friend that morning.

Every year, on Poe's January 19th birthday, a mysterious man used to leave flowers and a bottle of cognac at Poe's grave site.  The tradition was 60 years old.  The "Poe Toaster" has been a no-show for the last three years, and the tradition has now officially been declared "over."

Like Poe's life, it's all so sad.