Banned Books

The libraries and bookstores of the world

Are stocked with pleasantries:

Prim, proper, peach juice-oozing volumes

That made the grade.

 

These books are all well and good,

        And are not unworthy of examination,

Simply because they were deemed so

By a jury of your peers.

 

Make note, however,

Of the myopia inherent

In limiting yourself

To the savoury.

 

Observe:

 

Past the shelves of

        Well-lit,

        Worn-covered

        Thoroughly thumbed delicacies,

There is more to be seen.

 

Do not hesitate to approach the shelves

Wreathed in thorns and security tape

And kept under dim bulbs.

 

The books that lurk there

Are sealed tight

And wear jackets plastered in sludge:

Sludge laid thick by heavy-handed brushstrokes.

 

Prying open the padlock

Will sometimes reveal

Further grime coagulated upon the pages.

 

Further prying, however,

Will split open tomes

Scrawled with fractures of light,

Lending to the eye

An illumination unique

To such tarred works.

 

Do not fear these banned books,

These veiled wonders,

For they contain pure, unscreened scrawlings

Soulfully wrought upon simple scraps of paper.

 

It is within these that truth can be found.