Barbara West’s performance style is less like “poetry reading” and more like a cross between stand-up comedy and “stand-up meditation.”
Barbara’s 18 years as a student of Shambhala Buddhism and 12-step Recovery provide the spiritual foundation for her work.
Barbara is the only parent of a 22-year-old and works as a Wound/Ostomy/Continence Nurse, with prior work in Hospice and Home Health.
Previously published in Full of Crow, Brevities, Medusa’sKitchen, Sacramento Voices, Swarthmore College Bulletin, Small Craft Warnings, Escarp, and Davis Shambhala Center Newsletter. Barbara enjoys reciting from memory. This allows her to use her whole body to present a poem, usually without a mic, since her voice is plenty loud.
She enjoys windsurfing and rock climbing.
Barbara West 