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The seventh annual WATERSHED Environmental
Poetry Festival is scheduled for September 7, 2002,
again at Civic Center Park in
Berkeley. If you are
interested in volunteering as a 'WATERSHED keeper',
helping now to plan and organize, please call
Poetry Flash at (510) 526-9105 or fill out
the
volunteer
form.
Visit this site for regular updates on this
unique collaborative project. Meanwhile, read on
for an overview of the 1999 festival.
WATERSHED
1999
 On
Saturday, September 18, 10:30 a.m. to 4:00, at
Martin Luther King, Jr. Civic Center Park in
Berkeley, the fourth annual WATERSHED Environmental
Poetry Festival was held -- continuing its project
to inspire and heal with poetry and community. A
collaboration between Robert Hass, U.S. Poet
Laureate 1995-1997, Poetry Flash, Ecology
Center/Berkeley Farmers' Market, EcoCity Builders,
California Poets in the Schools, and Some Local
Poets of Mariposa/Earth Native Environmental
Witness Campaign, WATERSHED brings together a
constellation of poets, musicians, and
environmentalists to celebrate mindfulness of
nature on this small, rolling Earth.
From the stage at the 1998
festival, also held in Berkeley, Robert Hass
articulated his vision for this ever-evolving
event:
"We started the WATERSHED
Festival because we believe that there is profound
work of healing to do in this next century. We've
been saying over and over again that this country
explored its rivers in the nineteenth century, and
harnessed and brilliantly and ruthlessly exploited
them in the twentieth century; and we're living
with the consequences of it. If we don't act,
environmental policy in the twenty-first century is
going to look like Native American policy in the
nineteenth century. If we don't act, it's going to
be a series of local fights, local retreats, local
fights, and local retreats against population
pressure from now into the future.
"We have to have in place an
imagination based on intimate knowledge and love of
the places where we live, so that we can push
programs forward rather than just react to
environmental despoiling for the rest of our days.
It can begin in small and symbolic ways, like the
day-lighting of Strawberry Creek in Berkeley. To
open up the fact that we live on a watershed, that
where we live is really a drainage from the Contra
Costa Hills into the Bay -- and that we've lost
that connection -- can be solved with imagination.
Imagine our streams flowing freely again, with the
egrets and the herons working their way up the
creeks through the city, fishing for minnows and
sticklebacks. With this imagination we can restore
the ecological cycles of this place, reminding us
daily of the larger issues involved in preservation
and restoration, the healing of the
planet.
"What the WATERSHED Festival
offers the community is the opportunity to come
together and begin to teach ourselves and our
children to pay attention in fundamental and
different ways with poetry and art."
Making an encore performance was
Beat poet Diane di Prima, whose poem "Rant"
captured the spirit of the WATERSHED
festival:
Program Update (see below for Program
Schedule)
In addition to Diane di Prima,
also joining Robert Hass on stage was San Francisco
Poet Laureate Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Native
American poet and musician Joy Harjo, Fresno poets
Juan Felipe Herrera and Margarita Luna Robles,
Native American activist and poet John Trudell,
north coast poet and community activist Jerry
Martien, Nevada poet Gary Short, poet and Los
Angeles River activist Lewis MacAdams, Oakland
poets Jack and Adelle Foley, and Berkeley poet Piri
Thomas. There were special performances by poet
naturalist Maya Khosla with Colin Farish on tabla,
Marin poet Patti Trimble with Bill Horvitz on
guitar and Pablo Rodriquez on vocals, the Black Dot
Artists Collective's Rhyme Ritual Trio, and Native
American drummer Willie Lone Wolf. Community poets
were also represented by student poets from
California Poets in the Schools and the River of
Words competition, Earth First! Warrior Poets, and
the "We Are Nature" Open Poetry Readings (midday
and early afternoon, each for twenty minutes; slots
determined by a lottery on site).
The 1999 environmental message
drew from the Native American concept of Seven
Generations. Environmentalists discussed the
long-term work required to reverse the damage
inflicted on the environment and the need to think
about the impact of our actions on future
generations. These passionate speakers included
Philip Klasky from Bay Area Nuclear Waste Coalition
and Patrick McCully from International Rivers
Network. Richard Register from EcoCity Builders
presented a "State of the Watershed" -- an update
on the City of Berkeley's plans to daylight
Strawberry Creek, which included presentations by
Berkeley City Manager Jim Keene and restoration
designer Gary Mason. Susan Stone, head of KPFA/FM's
Drama and Literature Department, presented the
"State of the Airshed" -- a special report on
KPFA's struggle to preserve community radio in
Northern California.
The program was presented
against Bolinas artist Arthur Okamura's Watershed
Banner -- a magnificent performance set of
dendritic watershed patterns painted on shimmering
fabric.
"River Village," always a major
part of WATERSHED, returned with booths from grass
roots literary and environmental organizations.
Special interactive crafts and nature activities
for families and kids of all ages included "Go Fly
a Poem" kite making, "Found Sound" musical
instruments, "Cloud of Seeds" native planting,
Field Journals,"Down to Earth: the Texture of
Words" poetry rubbing panels, and special
activities by East Bay Depot for Creative Reuse.
Strawberry Creek, an essential part of the East Bay
watershed, was 'miked' as it flowed beneath the
festival site, providing a lively, continuous audio
accompaniment over the main sound
system.
If you are interested in
volunteering as a 'WATERSHED keeper', helping now
to plan and organize for the fifth annual festival
on September 9, 2000, please call Poetry
Flash at (510) 526-9105 or fill out
the
volunteer
form.
 
1999 WATERSHED Photo
Album
photos by Steve
Wilson
Joy Hargo and Willie
Lone Wolf offered a unique collaborative
performance.
Joy Harjo and John Trudell provided
provocative social commentary and
perspecitve to the 1999 festival.
Celebrate Writers, Nature
& Community
WATERSHED
Environmental Poetry
Festival
Saturday, September 18, 1999 • 10:30 am
to 4 pm • Free
Martin Luther King, Jr. Park in Berkeley
Martin Luther King Jr. Way
at Center Street
One Block West from Downtown Berkeley BART
Station
Program Schedule
10:30
• Willie Lone Wolf & All Nations
Drum
11:00
• Robert Hass with student poets
from River of Words & California Poets in
the Schools
11:45
• Richard Register EcoCity Builders:
- Berkeley Wildlife Mascot Project
- State of the East Bay Watershed
• Rhyme Ritual Trio
12:00
• We Are Nature Open Reading #1 (sign up
at Some Local Poets of Mariposa booth)
• Jack & Adelle Foley
• Free Speech Radio Update with
KPFA/FM's Susan Stone
12:30
• Diane di Prima
• Joy Harjo with Willie Lone
Wolf
1:00
• Phil Klasky: Bay Area Nuclear Waste
Coalition
• Lewis MacAdams: Friends of the LA
River
• Earth First! Campfire Poets: Dennis
Fritzinger, Karen Pickett & Kirk
Lumpkin
1:30
• Jerry Martien
• Daylighting Strawberry Creek: Jim
Keene, Berkeley City Manager
• We Are Nature Open Reading #2 (sign up
at Some Local Poets of Mariposa
booth)
2:00
• Daylighting Strawberry Creek: Gary
Mason, Restoration Designer
• Maya Khosla with Colin Farish on
tabla
• Margarita Luna Robles
2:30
• Gary Short
• Patti Trimble with Bill Horvitz
(guitar) & Pablo Rodriguez
(vocals)
3:00
• Patrick McCully: International Rivers
Network
• Robert Hass
• Lawrence Ferlinghetti
3:30
• Juan Felipe Herrera
• Joy Harjo
4:00
• John Trudell
• Piri Thomas
1999 WATERSHED
Environmental Poetry Festival
is a collaboration of
Robert
Hass, US Poet Laureate 1995-97
Poetry Flash
Ecology Center/Berkeley Farmers'
Market
EcoCity Builders
Some Local Poets of Mariposa
Earth Native Environmental Witness
Campaign
California Poets in the Schools
River of Words (International Rivers
Network)
East Bay Depot for Creative Reuse
Found Sound
Tilden Park Environmental Education
Center
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