The enoughness of this

The bicycle in the field,
waiting with leaves in its basket, I mistake it for mine.
I ride it over the long grass up the hill
and I bless the fields, trees,
metal that made the bike, inventor of the bicycle, wind in my hair,
the ways that bicycles transported me before
and then I am here again, in my body, 264 miles from home,
where I am already the keeper of 3 bicycles, so I leave it for the next cyclist.

Later we take the truck to a rest area in a rainstorm
we put sheets over the windows and make love in the back,
in a bed made from the feathers of geese,
and those birds I am thankful for,
they cradle my shoulders,
while trees rustle, highways thud,
and cars stop for rest all around us.

I praise the rain, the warmth of my love’s breath,
the way I can love this human once and then again,
12 years later and in some wildly different way.
On the way home I sleep as we slide
across the belly of New England.
Outside the rain falls on our green truck,
on this damp highway,
in this small space I have
a body with all its pieces, love, a bed of feathers,
a change of clothes.
The bicycle back on the hillside sits ready for the next rider,
and I have enough.

Beth Royer

The newest pamphlets are at the printer now and will be headed back up to New York in the next couple of weeks.

As you can see from the front cover image, the new pamphlets are titled, Enough!. They feature writing by Alexis Clements and Beth Royer, with illustrations by Julia Vallera.

We’ll be distributing the pamphlets throughout the summer at performances we’ll be putting on across New York City. All the details will be posted here, so keep an eye out, or subscribe to our mailing list for updates.

A couple of days ago I was on the train, headed to work, diligently reading my book, when a short man came walking through the car with a small stack of paper in his hands who was handing out pamphlets—one on each bench. He placed one down on the empty seat right next to me. I couldn’t believe it.

Reverend John, one of the most important inspirations for this whole project, seems to have got himself a woman to help out in his effort to “restore your lost nature.”

In fact, over the past couple of years I’ve collected a handful of pamphlets made by this group, each with a different personality listed at the top, and a slightly different promise on the inside. There’s a beautiful one with a red ink stamped border on the outside that’s among my favorites (after the original Rev. John pamphlet, of course). Unfortunately the design has gone a bit downhill since then—let’s just admit now that the Mrs.’ does not have the same panache as the Mr.’s.

What shocked me was to see the little man, quietly walking down the near-empty train car, silently distributing his tracts, only stopping at the very end of the car to hand one directly to a sleepy looking Hispanic man leaning against the wall of the car. The recipient took the pamphlet obediently, said nothing in return, save a low grunt of acknowledgement. The distributor, in his faded orange windbreaker, asymmetric backpack, and greying white sneakers, nodded and then walked to the door to wait for the next stop.

I briefly thought of jumping up and asking the man some questions—Where did he have the pamphlets printed? Who designs them? What’s the scam they’re operating? But I was fairly certain he wouldn’t be much interested in speaking to me.

I feel certain now that he and his pamphlets have become my White Rabbit. I wonder what wonderland they will lead me to…

Found an awesome new link this morning while working on the essay for the third New Acquisition pamphlet which is well underway after having to be postponed this fall.

The link is from the New Orleans Public Library’s Pamphlet of the Month page.

The one pamphlet in particular that caught my interest was An Outline of Twelve Months of Progress in New Orleans: August 17, 1936 – August 17, 1937. There’s a great deal of interest in this pamphlet which overzealously touts the civic improvements wrought by the city’s then administration.

One of the many things that caught my eye was the last sentence on page 3: “The City of New Orleans has not borne one cent of the cost of this booklet.” It makes me think of nothing so much as all those pamphlets and flyers my current Mayor, Mr. Bloomberg, sent my way when campaigning for his third term.

New Acquisition pamphlets will now be available (for as long as supplies last) at the FiveMyles gallery in Crown Heights, Brooklyn.

The gallery, founded and run by performance artist Hanne Tierney, is a wonderful space that puts on a wide range of gallery shows and performance events.

It also serves as a wonderful community gathering space, and Hanne throws a big block-party and performance fest every year, which we may be a part of, so look for more details or go by anyway:
http://www.fivemyles.org/future/