Poetry Reading- Barry MacDonald & Banji Lawal

Please join us for our next featured poetry reading with Barry MacDonald & Banji Lawal!

In-person at 1762 Hennepin Avenue
Monday, December 2 at 7 PM
FREE (but donations appreciated)

Barry MacDonald will be reading from his compilation of five books ‘An Exploration of Consciousness IX: Everyday Mind XXXVI – XXXX’.

This is the story of a run-away journey to Galveston, Texas; of work on asphalt driveway crews for three summers; of education in Oxford, England; of alcoholism and drug addiction on the road to recovery; of his trip to Japan to teach English in private schools; of entrance to the Buddha Way through a Zen temple in Japan; and of his association with the poet Cid Corman in Kyoto Japan.

This is a memoir contrasted throughout with poems of present-day experience that demonstrate the fruits of Barry’s far-flung experience.

Barry MacDonald goes by the dharma name “Tekkan,” which means “Iron Man” in 13th century Japanese. Tekkan indicates a “settled practitioner of great determination.” He was given this name when he took Buddhist vows.

He lived in Japan for 9 years, teaching English at the Berlitz Corporation in Kyoto. He practiced Zen at Hosshin-ji, a Zen temple in Obama — a small town on the coast of the Sea of Japan. He has written 49 books: Everyday Mind I-XXXX; and An Exploration of Consciousness IX.

Banji Lawal will be reading from a selection of his collected work. He has been writing things he’s ashamed of for quite some time. He’s been writing things he’s happy with for a bit longer. Lately he’s developed a propensity for paint and a boredom with cameras. He likes to lay under trees by the lake with his summer. Read more of him at logothete.tumblr.com.