The Poets Quartet comes to Davis with a live multimedia performance at the John Natsoulas Gallery (521 1st Street in Davis) – join us for Poetry Night at 8 PM on April 4th, 2019
The Poetry Night organizers and interns are proud to kick off National Poetry Month with The Poets Quartet! On Thursday, April 4th, four California poets will perform a unique fusion of jazz-inflected dynamic poetry, humor and original music accompanied by a variety instruments, including, perhaps, the mbira, Chinese flute, violin and guitar.
A theatrical approach to the great poets–Hafiz, Muriel Rukeyser, Federico Garcia Lorca, Mary Oliver, Leonard Cohen, Rumi, and more, from Medieval times through modern writing–these four poets perform poems that are scored for multiple voices, working together like a jazz quartet. Some poems in the program are jazz poems, some will be read in Spanish and French, along with English translations. Also included are several new pieces by Quartet members.
Beverly Korenwaser opened LA’s Norris Fine Art Guerrilla Gallery where, after hours, poets, musicians and actors performed; she also worked as Artistic Director at the Sangeet School of World Music. In Northern California, she was featured reader at the Woman’s Writing Salon and the Nevada City Poetry Series. Her poems are published in the Cafe Writers Anthology, and she was invited to read her poem “Isadora” at the Isadora dance performance presented at the Crocker Museum. She is a singer from Bach to Jazz.
Iven Lourie was Poetry Editor at Chicago Review in the 1960s, and he has pursued editing, writing, and performance art since. After completing his MFA at U. of Arizona (1978), he moved to the Sierra Foothills to work as Editor for Gateways Books, teach composition and literature at Sierra Community College, and lead the Café Writers group. His publications include poetry in journals such as Poetry (Chicago), Hanging Loose, Midstream, Louisville Review, many others; collections Miro’s Dream (1991), one of six poets in Yuba Flows (Hip Pocket Press, 2007); and chapbooks SHORTS (Rattlesnake Press, 2009), and Return to Mykonos (Artemis Books, 2013).
Myra Traugot has been writing poetry her entire life as well as playing folk guitar and singing, meanwhile studying linguistics, Scottish history, and spirituality. She has read her poetry for years for Nevada County Poetry Series events, published a chapbook titled Some Poems, helped create the Poets Quartet, and is featured as a performer at the annual KVMR Celtic Festival.
Howie Deutsch has been living and working in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains for the last forty years, writing, composing, singing, and performing songs in the Mother Lode country. Beginning in the mid-1990s, he began collaborating with local poets and spoken-word performers in Nevada County, providing musical adornment on Native American flutes, harmonica, and percussion.
An open mic will follow the featured performers. The open mic list is usually filled by 7:45, so come early to reserve a spot and a seat. The featured performers take the stage at 8, the open mic at 9. Poetry Night is hosted on first and third Thursdays of the month by Dr. Andy Jones, the poet laureate emeritus of Davis. All are welcome to join us at the John Natsoulas Gallery, 521 1st Street.
Please join us April 4th at 8!
Andy Jones
