Type Rider II Tandem Poetry Tour

We had the pleasure to meet Maya Stein and Amy Tingle this weekend. They're riding a tandem bike

1,400 miles from Boulder, Colorado, to Beloit, Wisconsin, building “Little Free Libraries” and promoting poetry, community, a love of reading, and the spirit of collaboration along the way. At their Seward stop, we  hosted a bike rodeo, built a "Little Free Library" for the town of Staplehurst, and read and wrote poetry with Maya, Amy, and two Lincoln poets, Lucy Adkins and Marge Saiser.

Thanks to everyone who helped with Saturday's event, which we held at the Olde Glory Theatre and Community Hall. Officers Hammond and Summerfeld and John Moody ran the bike rodeo. Charlotte Endorf--owner of one of Nebraska's first Little Free Libraries--and Ken Block oversaw the construction project, and Ashlyn, Amelia, Nora, Haley, and Molly helped out as needed throughout the morning. And, as always, our fabulous Chapters staff was on hand to help.

Here's just one of the many poems Amy and Maya wrote at our event. They sat at their typewriters--manual ones, no less-and asked for a word from the audience. This is Maya's poem in response to the word 

"Friendly"

It's Saturday morning. I just had a glass

of lemoade. Right this minute we are in 

Seward, Nebraska, and the sun is shining and

there are bicycles on the sidewalk and you,

you are sitting right in front of me blowing

up a blue balloon and everything is

feeling bright and possible and the whole world

is friendly and it would be alright

with me if time stood still so it could be

like this a little while longer. Just like this.

Maya Stein