Dear Friends of Poetry,
On Thursday, June 4, 2026, Poetry Night will feature the poet William O’Daly and the musician Christopher Yohmei Blasdel. We meet at 7 p.m. inside the spacious John Natsoulas Gallery at 521 1st Street in Davis, and we hope you can join us!
The first of our featured poets for June 4 will be William O’Daly.
O’Daly’s published works include eight books of translation of the late-career and posthumous poetry of Chilean Nobel laureate Pablo Neruda (Still Another Day, The Separate Rose, Winter Garden, The Sea and the Bells, The Yellow Heart, The Book of Questions, The Hands of Day, and World’s End), and Neruda’s first volume, Book of Twilight — all published by Copper Canyon Press. Book of Twilight was a finalist for the Northern California Book Award in Translation of Poetry for 2018. With the Chinese writer Han-ping Chin, he co-authored a historical novel, This Earthly Life, set amid the fascinating and deadly Chinese Cultural Revolution. This Earthly Life was selected a “Finalist” in Narrative magazine’s 2009 Fall Story Contest. The manuscript remains unpublished.
His most recent book of poems, The New Gods, was published by Beltway Editions in September 2022. Other books of poems include Yarrow and Smoke, Waterways (a collaboration with JS Graustein), and The Road to Isla Negra, all three published by Folded Word Press, and The Whale in the Web published by Copper Canyon Press. In March 2023, the Los Angeles Master Chorale included three poems from The New Gods and one from Water Ways in the world premiere of Reena Esmail’s “Malhaar: A Requiem for Water,” at the Walt Disney Concert Hall.
Currently residing in the Sierra Nevada foothills of Northern California, O’Daly retired in December, 2024 from the California Department of Water Resources where he was Supervisor of Technical Publications and Lead Writer for the California Water Plan, the state’s strategic plan for sustainably and equitably managing water resources.
Performing with O’Daly will be the renowned musician Christopher Yohemi Blasdel.
Christopher Yohmei Blasdel graduated with a BFA degree from Earlham College in 1974. While an exchange student in Japan, he began the shakuhachi and studies of Japanese music in 1972 with Living National Treasure Goro Yamaguchi. In 1982 he received an MFA in ethnomusicology from the Tokyo University of Fine Arts and was accredited as a shihan shakuhachi master by Yamaguchi, receiving the name ‘Yohmei’.
Blasdel balances traditional Shakuhachi music, modern compositions, improvisation, and cross-genre work with musicians, dancers, poets, and visual artists in his musical activities. A selection of his CDs, including traditional shakuhachi honkyoku meditative pieces along with contemporary music can be found on Spotify, Apple Music, and other streaming services. He performs around the world and has guest lectured at such institutions as Earlham College, Chulalongkorn University (Bangkok), Texas A&M University, University of Washington, Charles University (Prague), Cal Arts, International Christian University (Tokyo), University of Maryland and Temple University.
Blasdel has composed and performed music for NHK documentaries and various films and was the Artistic Director of the International House of Japan from 1987 to 2013. He co-organized the Boulder World Shakuhachi Festival ’98 and assisted the Sydney World Shakuhachi Festival in 2008. Christopher also co-founded the Prague Shakuhachi Festival and was senior advisor to the 2025 World Shakuhachi Festival held in Texas, where Blasdel was born. His semi-autobiographical book, The Single Tone—A Personal Journey through Shakuhachi Music (Printed Matter Press, 2005) and The Shakuhachi, A Manual for Learning (1988) are two of Shakuhachi’s most important English language resource books. Both are available on Kindle books.
Blasdel presently lectures at the University of Hawaiʻi, Mānoa and holds a fifth-degree black belt in Aikido.
You are invited to visit the Facebook page for this event.
Doors and open-mic signups open at 6:30 p.m.; the first featured reader begins at 7 p.m.; open mic starts at 8 p.m. Open mic performers will be asked to limit what they share to two items or four minutes, whichever is shorter. The open mic list is typically full by 6:45 p.m. People who show up early to help set up chairs will always earn a spot on the open mic list. We expect open mic favorites Michael Gallowglas, Mercedes Ibañez, Joe Bacchus, and Allegra Silberstein to perform.
Find out more about the Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting https://www.poetryindavis.com. Encourage your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, see some of his recent essays on Substack: https://andyjones.substack.com/. One post lists the almost 400 poets who have ever featured at the Poetry Night Reading Series.
Upcoming Poetry Night readers will include Kelli Russell Agodon, Katie Peterson, Wendy Silk, Dianna Henning, Lara Gularte, Terry Moore, Julia Levine, and others.
Please plan to join us on every first and third Thursday of the month at 7 p.m. at the John Natsoulas Gallery for the Poetry Night Reading Series.
Our Poetry Night Schedule for 2026:
June 18 — Robin Becker and Danielle LeMay
July 2 — Dianna Henning and Lara Gularte
