Vietnam/The Sixties 2: Poetry of the Vietnam War

896. (Anthology). Where is Vietnam? American Poets Respond. Garden City: Doubleday/Anchor (1967). A paperback original, edited by Walter Lowenfels. A collection of anti-war poems by 89 poets, including poems from the Vietnam Read-Ins. With contributions by Allen Ginsberg, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Stanley Kunitz, Denise Levertov, Donald Hall, Robert Bly, Will Inman, Robert Lowell, Galway Kinnell and many others. Fine in wrappers. $45

897. -. Same title, a later printing. Near fine in wrappers. $20

898. (Anthology). Boondock Bards. (Tokyo): (Pacific Stars and Stripes) (1968). A collection of poems written by American servicemen serving in Vietnam and originally published in a column appearing in the Armed Services newspaper, Pacific Stars and Stripes. With illustrations by Yoshihiko Satake. Small, fragile hardcover volume; fine in a very near fine dust jacket. An uncommon collection, and this is a particularly attractive copy of it. $150

899. (Anthology). We Promise One Another. Poems From an Asian War. (Washington): (Indochina Mobile Education Project) (1971). Vietnamese poems, translated into English, with poetry by classic and well-known Vietnamese authors intermingled with poems by students, soldiers and contemporary folk singers. Illustrated with drawings and other artwork by Vietnamese artists. Co-compiled by Don Luce. Obvious sticker removal abrasion; about near fine in wrappers. $65

900. (Anthology). Winning Hearts and Minds. Brooklyn: 1st Casualty (1972). One of the early, important collections of poetry by Vietnam vets, published by a small press that was started by vets. Later this title was picked up by a major New York publisher and reissued. An important volume, which introduced such writers as W.D. Ehrhart, Michael Casey and Gustav Hasford, among others. Spotting to covers and light general wear; very good in wrappers. $45

901. -. Another copy. Dark spots to cover; worn. Stamp on title page; fair. $25

902. -. Same title, second printing. Price inked out on rear cover; else fine. $25

903. -. Another copy of the second printing. Bookplate partially removed from front pastedown; else near fine. $20

904. -. Another copy of the second printing. Very good. $25

905. -. Same title, the reissue (NY: McGraw Hill, 1972). This is the hardcover issue. Inscribed by Michael Uhl, one of the contributors. Foxing to top edge; else fine in a fine dust jacket. $60

906. -. Another copy of the hardcover reissue, also inscribed by Michael Uhl. Fine in a near fine dust jacket with mild dampstaining to verso and a crease on the front flap. $50

907. -. Same title, the wrappered issue of the reprint. Inscribed by Michael Uhl. Very good in wrappers. $30

908. (Anthology). Poetry Against the War, Vol. 120, No. 6. (Chicago: 1972). An issue of Poetry magazine, dedicated to antiwar poems. Contributors include Richard Hugo, Tom Disch, James Schuyler, William Stafford, Philip Levine, and others. Spine faded; near fine in wrappers. $45

909. -. Another copy. Very good. $35

910. (Anthology). Long Island Review 2. Poetry of Vietnam Vets. Brooklyn: Long Island Review, 1973. Includes poetry by vets as well as an essay on "American Poetry From the Indochina Experience" by Stephen Sossaman, himself an accomplished poet and later a public speaker on the Vietnam experience. Most of Sossaman's essay is a review of Winning Hearts and Minds. Near fine in wrappers. $45

911. (Anthology). Listen, the War. (n.p.): The Air Force Academy Association of Graduates (1973). An early and important anthology of poetry, which includes pieces by W. D. Ehrhart, John Clark Pratt and many others. Edited by Lt. Col. Fred Kiley and Lt. Col. Tony Dater. This is the issue in wrappers, perfectbound, with a crease and crack in the spine, otherwise very good. Uncommon. $100

912. (Anthology). Vietnam Poetry. Fullerton: Union of Vietnamese in the US (n.d.) [c. 1973]. Bilingual edition of poetry by Vietnamese, mostly about the war but also some folk poetry, etc., with a number of illustrations. Spine heavily faded; otherwise near fine in stapled wrappers. $75

913. (Anthology). Demilitarized Zones. (Perkasie): East River Anthology, 1976. Subtitled "Veterans After Vietnam," this anthology of poems by veterans focuses on their experiences after the war rather than on the war itself. Edited by W.D. Ehrhart and Jan Barry. Contributors include Bruce Weigl, Stephen Sossaman, Michael Uhl, Simon Ortiz, Gerald McCarthy, Ehrhart, John Balaban, and many others. Very near fine in wrappers. $50

914. (Anthology). Carrying the Darkness. NY: Avon (1985). The first edition of the best poetry anthology to come out of the war, done in paperback as part of an admirable, albeit short-lived, program of Vietnam war literature by Avon Books. Edited by W.D. Ehrhart. Later Ehrhart expanded it slightly and it was published in hardcover by Texas Tech Press. Ehrhart serves as editor, and several of his poems are included here. Other contributors include John Balaban, R. L. Barth, Brian Alec Floyd, Gustav Hasford, David Huddle, Allston James, Walter McDonald, Basil T. Paquet, Bruce Weigl, Ray Young Bear, and many others. Fine in wrappers. $50

915. (Anthology). Unaccustomed Mercy. Soldier-Poets of the Vietnam War. (Lubbock): Texas Tech, 1989. Anthology collecting previously published poems by a number of highly regarded poets of the war, a follow-up to, and shorter version of, Carrying the Darkness. Edited by W.D. Ehrhart. Fine in a fine dust jacket with a Tim O'Brien blurb. $45

916. BALABAN, John. After Our War. (n.p.): U. of Pittsburgh Press (1974). The Lamont Poetry Selection for 1974. Poetry and prose poems by a Vietnam vet who served as a conscientious objector in Vietnam during the war. Winner of the 1974 Lamont Poetry Award, with the announcement of the award laid in, along with a Compliments of the Academy of American Poets card. Nominated for the National Book Award. Fine in a very good, lightly foxed and sunned dust jacket with one edge tear. $75

917. -. Another copy. Near fine in a very good dust jacket with one small corner chip. $75

918. -. Another copy. Owner name and address front endpaper; near fine in a very good, spine-faded dust jacket with a chip on the rear panel. $50

919. -. Same title, the simultaneous issue in wrappers. Spine-faded; very good. $25

920. BALABAN, John. Blue Mountain. (Greensboro): Unicorn (1982). The uncommon hardcover issue of this attractive book, designed by Teo Savory. Fine, without dust jacket, as issued. Poetry, much of which pertains to Vietnam. An important title. $85

921. (BALABAN, John). Vietnamese Folk Poetry. Greensboro: Unicorn (1974). Translations by Balaban, who became both fluent in Vietnam and highly versed in the traditional lyric folk poetry of Vietnam. This is the issue in saddle-stitched wrappers. (Of a total edition of 1000 copies, there was a small, unspecified number bound in hardcovers with paper label). A fine copy, inscribed on the colophon by one of the members of the press that published it. $75

922. -. Same title, a "review copy" of the issue in wrappers, but actually more like a proof: contents have been rearranged between this and the published edition, and there are minor textual differences visible on the copyright page, etc. Spine sunned, else fine. $100

923. BARR, John. Veterans Day 1985. (n.p.): Ives Street (1989). A short poem about the Vietnam Memorial, bound in a handsome pamphlet that resembles the monument. 6" x 4". Fine. $45

924. BARTH, R.L. Forced-Marching to the Styx. (Van Nuys): Perivale (1983). A chapbook collecting this former Marine's poems about the war. A fine copy in stapled wrappers. Barth is one of the most accomplished of the poets to have written about the war. $50

925. -. Another copy. Near fine. $45

926. BERRIGAN, Daniel. Prison Poems. (Greensboro): Unicorn Press, 1973. Poems written by Berrigan while serving time in prison for his role as a member of the Catonsville 9, a celebrated case of antiwar activists convicted of destroying draft files in a Maryland draft board. This is an advance copy in wrappers, preceding the first edition, which was hardcover. Berrigan was one of the most prominent of the religious figures who took a stand against the war; his activism helped lay the groundwork for what exploded into a full-fledged "movement" of engaged priests, ministers and nuns a decade later in Central America. Fine. An important collection, uncommon in an advance issue. $100

Vanity Press Poetry Collection

927. BINGAMAN, H.W. Reckonings. Stories of the Air War over North Vietnam. NY: Vantage (1988). Most of the "stories" in this vanity press collection are poems; a small number are prose. Written by a former Air Force pilot. This is a review copy. Fine in a fine dust jacket. $125

928. BLY, Robert. The Light Around the Body. London: Rapp & Whiting (1968). The first British edition of this collection of poems, many of them relating to the war, by this prominent activist poet. Mild offsetting to endpapers; very near fine in a fine dust jacket. $50

929. BLY, Robert. The Teeth Mother Naked at Last. (San Francisco): City Lights (1970). The first City Lights edition of this famous, stridently anti-war poem. Abrasion to front cover; offsetting to rear cover. Near fine in wrappers. $65

930. BOWEN, Kevin. Playing Basketball with the Viet Cong. (Willimantic): Curbstone (1994). Poetry by the director of the William Joiner Center, which specializes in the history and literature of the Vietnam experience. Bowen served with the 1st Air Cavalry Division in Vietnam in 1968-69. Only published in wrappers. Fine, and signed by the author. Introduction by Carolyn ForchÉ. Blurb by Tim O'Brien. $45

931. CARON, D. Philip. Eagles and Other Prey. Memphis: Volunteer Publications (1989). Poetry and prose -- a first-person account of one of the author's experiences in the war. The author served in Vietnam in 1968-1969 as a machine gunner and was wounded twice. Another of the many small-press publications of poetry about the war. Fine in wrappers, in dust jacket. $45

932. CASEY, Michael. Obscenities. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1972. The author's first collection, published in the Yale Series of Younger Poets. One of the earliest collections of poetry by a vet. This is the uncommon hardcover edition. Slight foxing to top edge; else fine in a near fine, first issue dust jacket. $125

933. -. Same title, the third printing. Fine in a fine, price-clipped dust jacket. $45

934. -. Another copy of the third printing. Near fine in a very good, price-clipped dust jacket. $35

935. CONNOLLY, David. Lost in America. (Woodbridge): Vietnam Generation & Burning Cities Press (1994). The first in a series of volumes of poetry pertaining to the Vietnam generation. This copy is a "donor's copy," with a letter laid in so indicating. Fine in wrappers. $35

936. DAY, Bonnie. Pilgrims of Peace and Other Poems. (n.p.): (Coach House) (1968). One of 500 copies. Contains two poems directly related to the war -- "Exiles of Conscience" about draft evaders in Canada, and "News-Cast on Channel Four" about a scene from Vietnam broadcast on the evening news. A fine copy in self-wrappers. $65

937. EHRHART, W.D. A Generation of Peace. San Jose: Samisdat, 1977. A somewhat different collection from the 1975 New Voices volume of the same name, with four poems about the war that do not appear in that volume, and lacking 12 civilian poems that do appear there. An early collection by Ehrhart, one of the prominent of the soldier-poets of the Vietnam war, and a publication of an important small press, which issued a number of significant works of literature by veterans, many of them antiwar, at a time when they could not be published elsewhere. Near fine in stapled wrappers. $100

938. EHRHART, W.D. Rootless. San Jose: Samisdat, 1977. A collection of poems, none of them overtly about Vietnam, but many of them about war and death, and the aftermath of war. Near fine in stapled wrappers. $100

939. EHRHART, W.D. Empire. Richford: Samisdat, 1978. Another collection of poems, one of which describes his experience in Hue, during the Tet offensive in 1968, nearly getting killed by a rocket propelled grenade. Slight spine-sunning; else fine in stapled wrappers. $100

940. EHRHART, W.D. The Samisdat Poems of W.D. Ehrhart. Richford: Samisdat, 1980. An omnibus volume collecting the poems in his three earlier Samisdat pamphlets, along with new poems. Inscribed by the author in the year of publication. Spine-sunned; else fine in wrappers. $125

941. -. Another copy, unsigned. Fine in wrappers. $75

942. -. Another copy. Near fine in wrappers. $55

943. EHRHART, W.D. The Awkward Silence. (Stafford): Northwoods Press (1980). Poetry about the war. This is the issue in wrappers. Rubbed; near fine. $85

944. -. Another copy. Owner name. Rubbed; near fine. $65

945. EHRHART, W.D. To Those Who Have Gone Home Tired. NY: Thunder's Mouth Press (1984). A collection of new and previously published poems from his earlier books. Many of the poems deal directly with Ehrhart's experience in the war. Very near fine in wrappers. $65

946. FASANARO, Charles. Velocities of Rage. San Francisco: Cadmus (1993). A poetry collection by a Vietnam vet. Fine in wrappers. $35

947. -. Another copy. Near fine. $30

948. FLOYD, Bryan Alec. The Long War Dead. Sag Harbor: Permanent Press (n.d.). Reissue of this collection of poems, originally published in 1976 as a paperback original by Avon/Bard, and published here as a trade paperback. Simple, straightforward poems with substantial impact, each written as if they were epitaphs, one for each dead soldier in the platoon. One of the more powerful collections of poems we've encountered. Several of these were included in the anthology Unaccustomed Mercy, but otherwise a difficult title to find, in any edition. Rubbed; price hole-punched; near fine. $75

Australian Vietnam Poetry from 1959

949. FOX, Len. Gumleaves and Bamboo. (New South Wales): (Fox) (1959). Self-published first book of poems by this prominent Australian radical poet, who lived in Vietnam for two years during the Fifties. A number of the poems bear directly on his experience in Vietnam. Near fine in stapled wrappers and signed by the author. $250

950. JOHNSON, G.P. I Was Fighting for Peace, but, Lord, There Was Much More. Hicksville: Exposition Press (1979). A vanity press publication. Poems about the war by a veteran who was drafted in 1968 and wounded in Vietnam in 1969. Stamp to lower page edges; else fine in a very near fine dust jacket. Scarce. $125

951. LIVINGSTONE, Richard N. Speak in Shame and Sorrow. (Hampton): Hampton House, 1971. Antiwar poetry illustrated by photographs from Wide World Photos of Vietnam war victims. Fine in stapled wrappers. Polemical, damning poetry ("...we who damn/and desecrate our country's name/with other patriots' blood...") Uncommon. $75

952. LLITERAS, D.S. In a Warrior's Romance. (Norfolk): Hampton Roads (1991). Haiku poems paired with the author's snapshot photos from his time in Vietnam. Small quarto, only issued in wrappers. Fine. $45

953. MacBETH, George. The Bamboo Nightingale. Surrey: Sceptre, 1970. Subtitled "a funeral-song to America, for her negro dead in Vietnam." A rice-paper broadside, folded into wrappers. Of a total edition of 150 copies, this is one of 50 numbered copies signed by the author on the wrapper. Fine in near fine wrappers, with a few light splatters on the rear cover. $125

954. MASON, Steve. Johnny's Song. NY: Bantam (1986). The first attempt, it would seem, at making Vietnam war poetry into a mass market item -- the announced first printing for this title being 35,000 copies. Boards slightly bowed; covers slightly mottled; very good in near fine dust jacket creased on the front flap. Inscribed by the author. $50

955. MATTHEWS, William. Bring the War Home. Detroit: Alternative Press (n.d.). A broadside poem. 8" x 12". Bitterly ironic poem about the war "in its tenth year" and the way that Vietnam and the U.S. are inextricably intertwined: "...Our guilt is the heroin of Vietnam,/the best smack on the streets." Attractively printed on laid paper, with embossed title. Fine. $45

956. McCARTHY, Gerald. War Story. Vietnam War Poems. Trumansburg: The Crossing Press (1977). The very scarce hardcover edition of this powerful collection of poems by a vet -- only the second or third copy we've seen in hardcover. A fine copy without dust jacket, apparently as issued. $150

957. McDONALD, Walter. Night Landings. NY: Harper & Row (1989). The ninth book of poetry by the author of After the Noise of Saigon, among others. McDonald was an Air Force pilot and several of the poems deal explicitly with flying; some also are explicitly about Vietnam. The issue in wrappers. Fine. $35

958. RAMON, Edward. Scars and Stripes Forever! (Tulsa): (Western Publishing/Apparently self-published) (1990). Poetry, by a former helicopter pilot in Vietnam, who suffered post traumatic stress disorder after the war. Most of the poems have the same simple rhyme scheme, and each has its own epilogue, longer than the poem. Label removal abrasion front flyleaf; else fine in a fine dust jacket. $85

959. SOSSAMAN, Stephen. The My Tho Laundry. (n.p.): Tideline Press, 1977. One of 72 numbered copies signed by the author. Fine in saddle-stitched self-wrappers. A small and attractive edition. $125

960. STEPANCHEV, Stephen. Vietnam. (n.p.): Black Sparrow, 1968. A broadside poem, issued in an edition of 200 signed copies; this, however, is an unreleased issue, preceding the formally published version by one month. A typographical error caused this version to be destroyed; no copies are referred to in the bibliography of the Black Sparrow Press. This is one of the suppressed copies, with the typo. Fine. A very early Black Sparrow piece. $150

961. THICH NHAT HANH. Tho Vietnam. (Santa Barbara): (Unicorn Press) (1967). The first edition of these poems by a Vietnamese Buddhist who, nearly 30 years later, is one of the most prominent exponents of Buddhism to the West. Very near fine, bound in blue and white figured rice paper. Quite uncommon in the fragile first edition. $200

962. -. Same title, the second edition (1968). Fine in brown wrappers. $40

963. THICH NHAT HANH. Cry of Vietnam. (n.p.): Compassionate Arts of the Fellowship of Reconciliation (n.d.)[c. 1969]. An LP recording, read by Robert Ryan, of the poetry of Thich Nhat Hanh, Cao Ngoc Phuong and Trinh Cong Son. Still shrink-wrapped; fine. Uncommon. $100

964. THICH NHAT HANH. For Warmth. Berkeley: Black Oak Books, 1989. A broadside poem "printed to honor the life and teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh." Not explicitly about Vietnam, but a poem which refers to his struggle "to prevent my soul from leaving me in anger." The author, a Buddhist, was a significant figure in the movement to end the war in the 1960s; later he became an important figure in the "New Age" movement. Approximately 6 1/2" x 10 1/4". Fine. $35

965. WEIGL, Bruce. Executioner. (Tucson): Ironwood (1976). A collection of poems, several of them about the war, by a writer now recognized as one of the finest poets to come out of the war. The author's first book. Stapled wrappers; a vertical line of discoloration on inside front cover -- a printing flaw, it would appear -- otherwise a fine copy. $125

966. WEIGL, Bruce. Song of Napalm. NY: Atlantic Monthly (1988). A well-received volume of war poems, which was nominated for both the Lamont Poetry Prize and the William Carlos Williams Prize. With an introduction by Robert Stone. This is a review copy and is fine in a fine dust jacket. $50

967. -. Same title, the uncorrected proof copy. Fine in wrappers. $65