Bread & Poetry

“The soft allowing of all to be as it is.” —Ash Ruiz

Gracing our library for a second time, Ash Ruiz is back in town, promising to infuse our event with his signature blend of irreverent humor, inclusive devotion and a poetics of non-identity. Ash, formerly of Latin-sensation band Menudo, offers spoken-word poetry, spontaneous song, and infectious, heart-led inquiry to deepen our awareness of the present moment. Hear his notes on the moment-to-moment perfection of everyday life, how to take responsibility for what is ours, the possibility of ending the chain of ancestral trauma, and the courage to allow a self-releasing, self-dissolving ground of being. We will listen, write, and laugh as we relish the absurdities that present themselves. Not to be missed.

"Poetry, like bread, is for everyone." -Roque Dalton

Bread & Poetry is for people interested in language, particularly poetry, as a doorway to something sacred inside themselves. Mixing experiential writing exercises with lively Q & A and a range of featured poets, Bread & Poetry serves up language that dissolves borders between self and Self; self and other. It is a way to hold space for a community of undefended hearts, each speaking a love language at once personal and universal. As the poet David Whyte says, “Poetry is language against which you have no defenses.”