Dear Friends of Poetry,
The Poetry Night Reading Series is excited to feature Susan Flynn and Jemi McDonald at 7 PM on Thursday, July 20th, 2023, on the first floor of the John Natsoulas Gallery, 521 1st Street in Davis.
Susan Flynn is a poet, photographer, and psychoanalyst living in Sacramento and Georgetown, California. She has a private clinical practice in Sacramento, and is assistant clinical professor at UC Davis, where she teaches and supervises psychiatry residents. Her poetry has been published in various journals, including Adirondack Review, Euphony, No Achilles, A War Poetry Anthology, Paragon Press, SLAB, Tule Review, and Voices 2020. Susan is trained as an Amherst Writers and Artists group facilitator, and she has facilitated a series of writing groups for trauma survivors called “The Body Keeps the Score, The Spirit Tells the Story.” Seeing Begins in the Dark (2022) from River Rock Books is her first poetry collection.
Jemi McDonald is the author of the 2022 collection Evening Light: A Retrospect in Stories and Poems, published by Mandorla Books. Jemi is a California native, life-long writer, twenty-two-year Soto Zen Buddhist practitioner, decades-long wife, mother, new grandmother, and enduring friend. Deb Norton, author of Part Wild: A Writer’s Guide to Harnessing the Power of Resistance, says this of Evening Light: “Jemi Reis McDonald’s heart-opening book doesn’t merely discuss the nature of loss and recovery. With her sensorial writing, she immerses us in the journey, allowing us to see, feel, and deeply notice the earned details of her own richly lived experience. The result of this communion is breath and hope and a visceral re-union with ourselves and the world.”
This event will take place inside the air-conditioned John Natsoulas Gallery (521 1st Street) at 7 PM on Thursday, July 20th, 2023. An open mic will follow the featured performers. Open mic performances will be limited to three minutes or two items, whichever is shorter. As Robert Southey says, “Be brief; for it is with words as with sunbeams – the more they are condensed, the deeper they burn.” The open mic list typically fills by 6:50 PM, so please arrive early if you would like to perform something during the 8 o’clock hour. Attendees who request to be added to the list after 7 PM will be invited to try again at a subsequent event.
July Covid test positivity is up in California. Attendees are encouraged to mask up for this indoor event.
The Facebook event page for the July 20th, 2023 Poetry Night can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/events/221669104008322/
The Poetry Night Reading Series, taking place on first and third Thursdays of the month at 7 PM, is generously supported by the people and poets of the Sacramento Valley, by John Natsoulas, and by Thea and the other members of the staff at the John Natsoulas Gallery. Your host will be Dr. Andy Jones, the poet laureate emeritus of the City of Davis. This event is supported by Katerina Hanks, producer of The Poetry Night Reading Series.
Find out more about the Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting https://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, check out his weekly podcast at https://poetrytechnology.buzzsprout.com/ and his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.
Upcoming Poetry Night Events:
July 20th: Susan Flynn and Jemi McDonald
August 3: Dr. Andy on vacation – no Poetry Night
August 17: Iris Dunkle
September 7: Nancy Gonzalez St. Clair with Carol Lynn Stevenson Grellas as the guest-host
September 21: Indigo Moor with virtuoso jazz musician Tony Passarell
October 5: William O’Daly with classical guitarist Louis Valentine Johnson
Future readers will include Lee Herrick, Joe Wenderoth, Kim Stanley Robinson, Alan Williamson, Jeanne Foster, Lisa Rosenberg, Julia Connor, Clarence Major, DR Wagner, Bob Stanley, perhaps Elana K. Arnold, and other favorites.
The Poetry Night Reading Series has been committed to serving the literary and arts community in the city of Davis since 2011. Happening every 1st and 3rd Thursday of each month at the Natsoulas Gallery, each reading contains two featured poets followed by an open mic. Poetry in Davis was voted “Best Open Mic” in The California Aggie’s “Best of Davis″ edition and has been featured in Davis Life Magazine. Readers have included UC Davis faculty Francisco X. Alarcón, John Boe, Zinzi Clemmons, Joshua Clover, Jack Forbes, Sandra Gilbert, Brad Henderson, Pamela Houston, Clarence Major, Sandra McPherson, Katie Peterson, Margaret Ronda, Joe Wenderoth, and Alan Williamson, as well as many regional and traveling poets, including Molly Peacock, Jane Hirshfield, Dana Gioia, and James Ragan.
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