GOING EAST

Elsewhere,
a babe’s first words might be
ma ma, or da da
In Berkeley,
babies are born in a
lotus position
Their first word is
Karma
There might be more
Buddhists in Berkeley than
in Tibet
Some are from Tibet
but many are from
Brooklyn
Bishop George Berkeley
you got it backwards
It’s "Go East, Young Man,
Go East."

-Ishmael Reed

Berkeley’s poetry Walk was laid in October 2003 along Edison Street between Shattuck and Milvia Streets. The route includes 128 metal plates with excerpts from songs, each of which is related in one way or another to the city of Berkeley.

In the current plate there is a quote from the American poet and composer Ishmael Reed (1938). Reed taught for about 35 years at UC Berkeley. This poem is also about the city of Berkeley.
Bishop George Berkeley (1753-1685) was an Irish philosopher who championed the theory of idealism in which things can only be known by the senses. Since he predicted the American expansion to the West (Go West), he was honored to have the city of Berkeley named after him. And of course the name of the song refers in the opposite direction to this.