a note about Ms. Kitty

 

One day in second grade, I learned we had a cat. Dad found her or got her for free somewhere, I guess. We called her Ms. Kitty because that was the name a vet put on the paperwork when she was vaccinated. She was mean as hell except to my dad and me. We could pet her and hold her, but nobody else could. She would nap on my bed or sleep on dad's newspapers. When she had kittens, she got even meaner. One day my older sister brought over a boyfriend and his big, dumb German Shepherd. Ms. Kitty ran right out the door to confront the dog on the back patio, springing, claws out. I still remember bright red blood dripping off the stunned dog's rubbery black nose.

 

something about "The Collected Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe"

I did not previously appreciate how much Poe wrote that was not macabre. A review of selections from this collection enlightened me. I particularly enjoyed "The Black Cat" and "The Man That Was Used Up." And there are a lot of poems in this edition, but I still haven't read a Poe poem better than "Annabel Lee."

Note: This was the Modern Library edition.