I’ve been remiss at sharing my literary event participation of late. Not because I’m shy or humble, but because I’ve been busy AND making a concerted effort to take time to rest. Not just get enough sleep. I mean really take time to rest. Time during which I am not disturbed by others or disturbing myself with thoughts and worries about all that’s swirling around in the world around us. Monkey mind loves to stir up anxiety about so many things: the 2024 election, concurrent international wars, sexism, ageism, patriarchy, racism, climate change, and more. And there’s a lot for monkey mind to work with as it works against our well-being. If I’m worrying and anxious it’s hard for me to focus. If I’m unable to focus, then I’m unable to do the work I need to do. If I’m anxious, then it becomes difficult for me to remember that the work I’m committed to doing is necessary and that it adds to the common good. My work involves writing, teaching, photographing, living a thoughtful and contemplative life. So, you can imagine what can happen when my still waters are disturbed. I have to rest by using the tools that I’ve learned and applied for many decades.

This post was supposed to be about literary events. And it still is, yet it is also about the realities of living as a human being in this world. And that nearly five decades of meditation practice doesn’t result in one walking several inches off the ground and not being bothered by anything.  Au contraire (I’ve always wanted to use that phrase in a sentence 😊).

Now to the events. On Saturday, July 27, the East Bay will hold its annual Beast Crawl in downtown Oakland. A late afternoon and evening literary crawl with 3 Legs of the Port of Oakland Cranes that represent the event’s graphic image. Each leg consists of a myriad of readings curated by a variety of SF Bay Area literary organizations, collectives, publishers, etc. I’ll be reading, along with writers from the Clearly Meant series of the Berkeley Public Library, in Leg #2 at 5:30 pm at Itani Ramen  Although I was not involved in choosing the location, I do love noodles, and will be moving into this restaurant for good after our event. Don’t tell the owner.

I’ll come back and share my experiences at The Berkeley Poetry Festival (June 7) and Yerba Buena Gardens Festival’s Poetic Tuesdays (June 11) in an upcoming post. It will be a look back at recent literary adventures. Stay tuned.