This Saturday,  September 28th, 2013,  I’m going to be reading some of my poems about the the rivers and rainforests of the Amazon at the 18th Berkeley Watershed Environmental Poetry Festival. One of my favorite things about Watershed is that many of the poetry readings take place along the banks of Strawberry Creek.  The walk along the creek begins at 10:00 am. We meet at Oxford and Center and follow the creek through U.C. Berkeley. I’ll be reading in the Eucalyptus Grove (one of my favorite places) where the trees are tall, green, lush, and smell wonderful. I’ll also be talking briefly about the watershed of the Amazon–the largest watershed in the world which encompass an area of 2,720,000 square miles (7,050,000 sq km) and includes the largest tropical rainforest in the word.  A few years ago my husband and I went back to the Amazon  for the third time and took a 2000 mile boat trip up of one of its black water tributaries where the fish are brightly colored and the dolphins are pink. Because the river was in flood, the water was 65 feet high, which meant our canoes were floating through the tree tops.

After the Creek Walk, the Watershed Festival continues at the Civic Center Park in Berkeley(on Martin Luther King Blvd between Center Street and Allston Way) where I will be reading more of my poems on the main stage at 12:45.  Other readers on the Watershed main stage include Gary Snyder, Robert Hass (U.S. Poet Laureate 1995 to 1997), Brenda Hillman, Matthew Zapruder, Jennifer Elise Foerster, and a host of other fine poets.

The Civic Center portion of Watershed lasts from noon to 4:30 pm. Besides poetry readings, the festival  includes jazz, exhibits of literary magazines, books and book signings, interactive writing with Poecology, and much more.  Admission is free to all Watershed Events. Click here for more information and directions to the September 28, 2013 Berkeley Watershed Environmental Poetry Festival.