Melody wrote to me today to tell me of the passing of Edward Gorey.

When I was in college I had some posters of Gorey’s work, including [The Gashlycrumb Tinies.][3]

In honor of his passing, I came up with a little poem:

A is the Announcement that made me feel sad,

B is the foreboding that the news would be Bad,

C was the Click that took me to the site,

D was the Death notice, in pale CRT light,

E is for Edward, and his drawings so dark,

F was the Failure to save his poor heart,

G is for Gorey, a poet among men,

H is the Hapless child wrought by his pen,

I is for Instructions, to keep us all moral,

J is for jest, both urban and rural,

K is the Killing, done for a grin,

L is the Laughter that did us all in,

M is the Memory of the Gastlycrumb Tinies,

N is era that ends with the Nineties,

O is the Ovation giving by the mob,

P is the Praise for his love of the macabre,

Q is the Queer little people he drew,

R is for Remorse that his years were too few,

S is for Satire produced by his ink,

T is for the pictures that caused us to Think,

U is the Universe, made smaller this day,

V is for the Vast emptiness, barely held at bay,

W is Wishing for one more roll of the dice,

X is for Xerxes, still feeding the mice,

Y is for Younger, how he made me feel,

Z is for the life he celebrated with Zeal.