“In a Sequestered Providence Churchyard Where Once Poe Walk’d“

   Acrostic poem (13 lines); written on August 8, 1936. First published in Four Acrostic Sonnets on Edgar Allan Poe (1936); rpt. Science-Fantasy Correspondent(March– April 1937; as “In a Sequestered Churchyard Where Once Poe Walked”); HPL(Bellville, N.J.: Corwin F.Stickney, 1937); WT(May 1938) (as “Where Poe Once Walked”).

   The poem was written in St. John’s Churchyard in Providence, where HPL and his guests R.H.Barlow and Adolphe de Castro wrote acrostic “sonnets” (they lack one line for a true sonnet) to Poe. De Castro promptly send his to WT,where it was accepted; HPL’s and Barlow’s were rejected, as Farnsworth Wright only wished one such poem. Maurice W.Moe hectographed the three poems, along with one of his own, in Four Acrostic Sonnets on Edgar Allan Poe. Later Henry Kuttner wrote another.

   See David E.Schultz, “In a Sequester’d Churchyard,” Crypt No. 57 (St. John’s Eve 1988): 26–29, which reprints all five poems.