Let's Send Love Poems to Our Comrades 💐
Happy National Poetry Month, comrades! 💐 This month, we're celebrating queer poetry in all its forms. Do you have a favorite poem? Are there any that feel particularly relevant to the state of the world right now? What about the state of yourself in mind, body, or spirit?
If you're looking for great queer poetry recs, you can shop the Lambda Literary 2024 awards nominees and/or our National Poetry Month book list on Bookshop.org or follow us on Instagram to see what we're reading.
Below is one of my favorite poems of all time. I hope you like it too.
— Samantha Puc, Newsletter Editor & Book Club Coordinator
Having a Coke with You
Frank O'Hara, 1926-1966
is even more fun than going to San Sebastian, Irún, Hendaye, Biarritz, Bayonne
or being sick to my stomach on the Travesera de Gracia in Barcelona
partly because in your orange shirt you look like a better happier St. Sebastian
partly because of my love for you, partly because of your love for yoghurt
partly because of the fluorescent orange tulips around the birches
partly because of the secrecy our smiles take on before people and statuary
it is hard to believe when I’m with you that there can be anything as still
as solemn as unpleasantly definitive as statuary when right in front of it
in the warm New York 4 o’clock light we are drifting back and forth
between each other like a tree breathing through its spectacles
and the portrait show seems to have no faces in it at all, just paint
you suddenly wonder why in the world anyone ever did them
I look
at you and I would rather look at you than all the portraits in the world
except possibly for the Polish Rider occasionally and anyway it’s in the Frick
which thank heavens you haven’t gone to yet so we can go together for the first time
and the fact that you move so beautifully more or less takes care of Futurism
just as at home I never think of the Nude Descending a Staircase or
at a rehearsal a single drawing of Leonardo or Michelangelo that used to wow me
and what good does all the research of the Impressionists do them
when they never got the right person to stand near the tree when the sun sank
or for that matter Marino Marini when he didn’t pick the rider as carefully
as the horse
it seems they were all cheated of some marvelous experience
which is not going to go wasted on me which is why I’m telling you about it
— from The Collected Poems of Frank O'Hara
Events are back! 2024 is the first full distribution season for the Book Bike and we are so excited to connect with community members in Brooklyn.
Here's where we'll be in April, weather permitting:
🚲 Bed-Stuy Pop-Up: Saturday, April 6 from 1 p.m.—3 p.m., Herbert von King Park
🚲 Ocean Hill Pop-Up: Sunday, April 7 from 12 p.m.—2 p.m., Brooklyn Public Library Saratoga Branch
🚲 Crown Heights Pop-Up: Saturday, April 13 from 1 p.m.—3 p.m., St. John's Park
🚲 Brownsville Pop-Up: Sunday, April 14 from 12 p.m.—2 p.m., Brooklyn Public Library Brownsville Branch
🚲 Crown Heights Pop-Up: Saturday, April 20 from 1 p.m.—3 p.m., Lincoln Terrace Park
🚲 Clinton Hill Pop-Up: Sunday, April 21 from 12 p.m.—2 p.m., Brooklyn Public Library Clinton Hill Branch
🚲 The Nonbinarian Book Club: Friday, April 26 at 8 p.m., virtual
🚲 Crown Heights Pop-Up: Saturday, April 27 from 1 p.m.—3 p.m., Bower Park
🚲 Prospect Heights Pop-Up: Sunday, April 28 from 12 p.m.—2 p.m., Brooklyn Public Library Central Branch
In March, we asked our community to pit their favorite books against each other in Nonbinarian March Madness! After several rounds of voting, the last book standing was Freedom Is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement by Angela Y. Davis. To honor your vote, it's our April Book Club pick!
The Nonbinarian Book Club is partnered with Bluestockings Cooperative. You can purchase this month's Nonbinarian Book Club book at Bluestockings to support their mission and ours! Click here to order online and use code BOOKBIKE for 15% off at checkout.
Our ability to distribute regularly requires us to maintain consistent inventory, so if you have queer and/or trans titles you'd like to donate, please consider sending them our way!
You can mail in books or deliver them in person at any of our pop-up events. We accept new and used titles, galleys and advanced reader copies, self-published works, library discards, and remainders.
You can also purchase books from our inventory wishlist! We see the highest demand for picture books, board books, and middle-grade books, and we have shifted the focus of our wishlist accordingly. Purchasing books directly through this wishlist (or the ones listed under Partnerships, below) sends them directly to the Book Bike, which is a great option to help us bulk up our inventory!
Our definition of "queer" for children's books (ages 0-12) is very broad, though we prioritize those that feature LGBTQIA+ characters and/or are written by LGBTQIA+ authors. Not sure if a book you have fits the bill? DM @nonbinarianbike on Instagram or email kay@thenonbinarian.gay.
The Nonbinarian Book Bike is partnered with the following independent bookstores! Books purchased from our wishlists will be donated directly to the bike for free distribution.
The Nonbinarian Book Bike is also proud to partner with the following organizations for our community reading events! Please check out their mission statements and support them however possible.
🌠 Reading 4 Black Lives Project
Finally, The Nonbinarian Book Bike is partnered with Trans formative Schools, "a progressive education community centering trans joy and social justice." The organization aims to uplift trans children and educators, as well as families "touched by transness," through the implementation of a free afterschool program for ages 9-15. Trans formative Schools' dream is to create a liberal middle school that employs rigorous academics, identity exploration, and more.
All books purchased from this Bookshop wishlist will go directly to Trans formative Schools. The Nonbinarian Book Bike receives a portion of each purchase, which helps us pay for storage, bike maintenance and upkeep, and more. By purchasing from this list, you directly support two trans-led organizations and support indie bookstores through Bookshop.org.
If you'd like to partner with us for an event or sponsorship, please reach out via e-mail! In addition to subscribing to our newsletter, following us on social media, and participating in events, you can also support the Book Bike in the following ways:
📚 Donate a book (or books) to the Book Bike!
📚 Donate funds to help upkeep costs like storage and bike maintenance! You can make a one-time donation or set up a monthly one on Ko-Fi, or you can donate via Venmo.
📚 Buy a book from our wishlist!
📚 Buy a book through our Bookshop storefront!
📚 Support us with a Libro.fm subscription!
📚 Buy Nonbinarian merch!
To get involved in our virtual or physical programming, please DM @nonbinarianbike on IG or email kay@thenonbinarian.gay!
Thank you to the Nonbinarian community for making our first season so successful! It has been such a joy to meet you at pop-ups, interact with you on social media, and further get to know the Brooklyn community and its various neighborhoods.
We've begun our 2024 distribution season and we are thrilled to bring even more books to even further reaches of the city. Stay tuned! 📚🚲✨
Want to contribute to the Nonbinarian Newsletter?
If you have something you'd like to submit to the newsletter including events, mutual aid needs, book recs, or ideas you'd like to see us include, please email us at newsletter@thenonbinarian.gay.
Thank you for supporting the Nonbinarian Book Bike! Look for our next newsletter on the 1st of the month. In the meantime, follow us on social media for daily updates.