Friday Flowers: Tulips and Turtles

Yellow and orange tulips

The Turtle
(By Ogden Nash)

The turtle lives 'twixt plated decks
Which practically conceal its sex.
I think it clever of the turtle
In such a fix to be so fertile.

Pink tulips

It's been a rough couple of days, but I figured that we could have a bit of levity to round out the week, setting a positive mood for the weekend. And what makes for a smile and chuckle better than a pretty bouquet of tulips and the verse of Ogden Nash?

Moreover, how often do you see tulips and turtles thematically paired? ;-)

In a Kingdom by the Sea

Edgar Allan Poe was born on January 19, 1809.

We can't let the anniversary of Edgar Allan Poe's birth date go by without marking the occasion. ;-)

A master of the macabre, Poe could weave dread and despair, madness and mystery, into the very words of his poetry and stories. The cadence of his writings hint of a mental state on the verge of hysteria, building to a frenzy of gothic romanticism as the narrative concludes. His works always give a wild thrill of terror, a haunting glimpse of the bizarre.

Yes, Poe does get a bit overheated and verbose from time to time, but I feel that's part of his charm. His excess is an expression of his authenticity. As a writer, he gets so caught up in the work that he loses control; the dread and sensation that he creates is felt first by him.

Annabel Lee (1910) by John R. Neill

As usual, I have a hard time picking my favorite work by Poe, but "Annabel Lee" is my choice for today.