Dear Friends of Poetry,
The public is invited to a special edition of the Poetry Night Reading Series celebrating young teens from DaVinci Middle School on Thursday, November 9th, 2023, on the first floor of the John Natsoulas Gallery, 521 1st Street in Davis.
This free event marks the publication of Dear Earth: Hope River Poems by Young Teens (Sixteen Rivers Press, 2023). This chapbook contains 22 poems written by DaVinci 7th graders during the 2022-2023 Hope River pilot project which was designed and conducted by Julia B Levine, our current City of Davis Poet Laureate. This event will showcase the young poets participating in this important project; there will be no open mic.
This project, funded by the American Academy of Poetry and the Carnegie Mellon Foundation, as well as the City of Davis Arts and Cultural Affair program, was designed to help young teens develop more resiliency and hope in the face of climate change. The project involves poetry, science and technology. In addition to writing poems in response to prompts designed by Levine, the seventh graders at DaVinci listened to local businesspeople, researchers from UC Davis, and state employees present brief presentations on successful climate mitigation projects.
For this project, each student also created a sound file in which they read their final poem; these files were then linked to a geolocating app on the bike path behind the school. This sound installation was named Hope River. Finally, the entire seventh grade and the teachers involved walked this path listening to the poems they’d created. To mark the publication of Dear Earth, a mini Hope River will be installed in Central Park to coincide with this reading. Visitors can walk the path from sign to sign, listening to these 22 young authors read their poems.
Levine, a retired child and family psychologist, believes kids and teens need our help in navigating the climate crisis without losing hope. All the materials she designed and used for this project are included in the appendix of Dear Earth. She hopes anyone interested in replicating this project will find the materials useful. The chapbook will be on sale at the November 9th event, as well as available through the Avid Reader or online through 16 Rivers Press.
Find the Facebook event for this delightful evening of poetry at https://www.facebook.com/events/1057237905634098
From Steve Martin to Jimmy Kimmel to Dr. Andy’s mom to Kat Hanks, Covid test positivity is up in California. Attendees are encouraged to mask up when inside the John Natsoulas Gallery.
The Poetry Night Reading Series, typically 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.
Upcoming Poetry Night Events:
November 16: William Mohr and José A. Alcántara
December 7: Elana K. Arnold and Mischa Kuczynski
December 21st: A ticketed event with Rumi’s Caravan
Future readers will include Joe Wenderoth, Kim Stanley Robinson, Alan Williamson, Jeanne Foster, Julia Connor, Clarence Major, Bob Stanley, Mario Hill, 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. Typically 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, Lee Herrick, Dana Gioia, and James Ragan.
Follow us:
Twitter- @poetryindavis
Instagram- @davispoetrynight
Facebook: Poetry in Davis
