Award-winning writer, teacher
and scholar

Great River Legs

Great River Legs

Cover Design by Adam Wagler

Great River Legs explores rivers flowing through the country's middle by bicycle. This lyric collection documents a 1,398-mile, 25-day bicycle ride. Between October 2017 – March 2018, it traced a route from Muscatine, Iowa, to Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Great River Legs mixes prose poetry, creative nonfiction, and found poetry. The book follows riverboat paths Mark Twain paddled, known routes Jesse James used to hide bank-robbed cash, and the footpaths of the Natchez Trace Trail. From thunderstorms to mists, dog chases to catcalls, forging creeks to detours from the map, it meditates on work -  the body's work, the job, and the mind. Such meditative movements bridge the greatest of rivers. It's a ride into what’s right here, the awareness of stories and insight.

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