Poetry for the Earth, the Seasons, & Justice

A reading on the Sunday after the Summer Solstice by "The Ecology Center Poets": Nakia Dillard, Jahan Khalighi, and Kirk Lumpkin. Nakia "Precious Gift" Dillard of the Ecology Center's Farm Fresh Choice and its Outreach and Education Coordinator. She is currently attending San Francisco State University with a major in Health Education and a minor in Holistic Health. Jahan Khalighi of the Ecology Center's Information Department is a spoken word artist who was a two-time member of the Eugene Slam Poetry Team. He has performed his poetry across the country at places such as Bioneers, Esalen Institute, YBCA, Big Sur Regional Poetry Slam, as well as in the California school system. He was a co-founder of Communitree, an eco-arts organization based out of Oakland, and he serves as a Board Member for Planting Justice, a food justice organization in the East Bay. Kirk Lumpkin of the Ecology Center's Farmers' Market program is a poet, performer, and the Special Events and Promotions Coordinator of the Berkeley Farmers' Markets. He is the author of two books of poetry, Co-Hearing and In Deep. He's done featured performances of his poetry all around the San Francisco Bay Area and Northern California; in Los Angeles (Beyond Baroque); New York City (Bowery Poetry Club); Colorado; Toronto, Canada and has also done readings in England and Scotland under the auspices of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND). He has been a featured poet at events with two U.S. Poet Laureates, one California Poet Laureate, and three San Francisco Poet Laureates.

The Ecology Center Bookstore is on San Pablo at Blake St., just south of Dwight Way.

Public transportation: Buses on San Pablo Ave. and Dwight Way, street parking.

Schedule:

• 6:30pm - open mic on environmental themes;
• 7pm - Featured Poets.