All the Poe experts are adamant that he wasn’t what he wrote.

That he was a fun-loving, genuine fella.

That these dark, horror-filled stories are simply the result of an irrefutably genius originality.

They may admit a few about his lost loves, but a heavy tendency to write what he sees? Out the window.

Well, I’m not claiming to be a great writer or even one who knows how great writers think.

But as a writer, I think the experts are wrong.

These things don’t come from nothing.

They come from a tortured mind.