Restricted, A Poem

Amherst on the Green

with the Amherst Historical Society’s

annual

antique show and sale combined

with the Amherst Library’s

annual book sale

in the Congregationalist Church

have drawn us here.

My wife and daughter

and youngest son

are at the car to take care

of a rather messy diaper,

thus letting me

slip into the book sale alone.

Volunteers are in the foyer,

chatting amongst themselves

and smiling and greeting

hunters like myself.

I travel down stairs

that have been tread

since decades

before

the founding of this nation.

Most of the books gathered

are children’s

and mass market fiction,

though one small quarter

of the room

is given over to books

which are

different.

Oversized books on

nature and antiques,

discards from the library –

pulled from the archives

and interesting

in their antiquity along;

limited editions

from small presses in

slip cases

or with artwork done

by curious artists.

None of these catch my eye

for I am hunting

Bukowski

and war.

Of Bukowski

I see nothing,

yet a small blue pamphlet

with a price

of five dollars

catching my eye.

The pamphlet

is slightly worn and

slightly stained

with a cover bearing

the title

Fighting on Guadalcanal

and above it,

in bold letters,

Restricted.

I open the book

and see the publication date

is 1943

and realize

that nearly seventy years ago

a boy –

probably 18 like my oldest son –

was reading this,

preparing

to face death in the Pacific.

I dig

a five dollar bill

out of my wallet

and prepare to buy

and read

that which was once restricted.