Pondering Poe and Panic Attacks

"Through joy and through sorrow, I wrote. Through hunger and through thirst, I wrote. Through good report and through ill report, I wrote. Through sunshine and through moonshine, I wrote. What I wrote it is unnecessary to say." ~Edgar A. Poe~

Do you think that Poe had panic attacks? I have read several versions of Poe's demise....ending with being found in a gutter in France suffering from dellusions. Had modern medicine been available, could Poe have been the poster child for Xanax and gone on to more literary victories??? I wonder. I have always loved the written word and took comfort many an afternoon in the Manhattan Public Library after many junior high days.......always longing to be an author. And yet when I decided to start a blog, I never thought that on the second day that I would have a panic attack. What would be said, who would read this, who would care....oddly enough......much would be said, many would care. I received an email from an old classmate - who thanked me for the blog as she was going through some medical issues and had to have some tests run and didn't feel so alone after reading my blog. I am touched. Along with words of gratitude have come words of caution which have weighed heavily on me. Someone once told me that when it appears that people are against you - you might be wrong or you might be 100% right. I love the written word and this feels right - so like Poe - I will write in times of sorrow and joy; in sunshine and moonshine and through good report and ill report.

Just for today, I will raise a glass of Cognac to honor Poe. ~Donna~