The Hexagonal Book
Androscoggin Joe
lived somewhere near the Nash Stream Forest
way up a logging trail
east of Camp Stark.
They say he was there
long before the conservation days,
hunting & trapping
maybe even before
the papermill was built
& the railroad lumbered through
the valley.
It’s all pure speculation.
His granddaughter wrote a miniature book once
using a spy-glass,
an eagle quill and lemon ink
that turned invisible once you read it.
But nobody read that book
except she showed it to the Stark librarian,
who supposedly shuddered,
crossed herself and never spoke of it again.
The book was bound with string
& placed inside a frame
then quickly forgotten
yet --- if you turn your mind to it
on snowy days
& listen closely enough
this is what it says: