An eclectic quest for more comfortable bicycling
Women’s emancipation* and the history of bicycling go hand in handlebars. I’ve had the privilege of meeting so many outstanding women leaders in the movements for better bicycling and safer streets; I just wish each and every one of them…Continue Reading
I’m beginning to think I’m editing a poetry book, what with all these poems on transportation I’m collecting. The images of being on a journey, the physical acts involved with driving or riding a motorcycle, the human relationships and interactions…Continue Reading
Think of this list as the liberal arts major roundup on my bookcase. I keep my bike books sorted in categories: travel, history, policy. And then there’s this group of books that got shelved together in part because some are…Continue Reading
“Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time.” –Steven Wright Walking comes up so often in poems it’s nearly a cliché. Poems inspired by taking a walk. Poems about things noticed on a walk. Odes to walking, the original…Continue Reading
“The bicycle, the bicycle surely, should always be the vehicle of novelists and poets.” — Christopher Morley Those bicycle poems keep showing up. I rounded up a first post and within about two days spotted the next one. I don’t…Continue Reading
For obvious reasons (if you know what my professional life has been since 2012, that is) these types of books take up a fair amount of shelf space at my house and occupy memory on my e-reader. Buy these at…Continue Reading
Just yesterday at a local bookstore that sells used books and rare first editions I happened across a find: Poems in Motion, 100 Poems from the Subways and Buses, the result of a collaboration between MTA New York City Transit…Continue Reading
Presented with appreciation for all who write poetry, and for those who have created eclectic poetry collections online and in print. This has enabled me to gather a second list of transportation poems to go with the bicycle poems. These…Continue Reading
Use of hashtags on social media can wax to the point of annoying overload when the tags are longer than the thing you said, wane to the point that it’s hard to search and find, or seem really pointless because someone…Continue Reading
Transportation, in my daily work, is a means to an end. It isn’t usually a thing done for its own sake—it’s how we get where we need to go. “Travel” might be a better word for those times when we…Continue Reading
Not long after we moved to Olympia I discovered the town has a poet laureate program, which is simply delightful. Sady Sparks, poet laureate 2019-2020, created poetry “maps” to guide people to various locations around town where they could find…Continue Reading