Dear Friends of Poetry,
Please join us on Thursday, October 15, 2026, Poetry Night will feature the poets Brenda Ray and Matt Mitchell. We meet at 7 p.m. inside the John Natsoulas Gallery at 521 1st Street in Davis, and we hope you can join us!
The opener for our October 15 Poetry Night is Matt Mitchell.
Matthew Mitchell is a writer, mathematics teacher, and cancer survivor who lives with his beautiful wife Annie near the banks of the American River in Sacramento. He is currently focused on two new prose projects. The first is a blog on Substack called Teacher Takes, which deals with education policy from the perspective of an in-service teacher. The second project, also on Substack, is named Love Economy, after the title of his first novel, published late last year. The intent of this project is to think out loud about books and other cultural products related to themes in his novel around love, sex, and relationships.
Meanwhile, he continues to write poetry and is hard at work on a new full-length poetry collection provisionally entitled Flower, Water, Earth. His poems have been published in several small journals and in 2022 his chapbook The Adored Garden appeared through Philadelphia-based Moonstone Press.
Check out his work on Substack at @matthewmitchell3, and his novel page at mromerauthor.com.
The featured poet for our October 15 Poetry Night is Brenda Ray.
Brenda Ray is a Yale-published writer, poet, educator, and Pushcart Prize nominee with an MFA from The New School. Her work explores creative justice, self-empowerment, and the transformative power of love. Her spoken word album, The Blue Room, earned her an invitation to perform at Glastonbury Festival. Her upcoming memoir, The Most Beautiful Thing, blends humor and vulnerability in exploring her upbringing in an evangelical church. Brenda lives in Berkeley with her husband and two cats.
You are invited to visit the Facebook page for this event.
Doors and open-mic signups open at around 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 performances from open mic favorites, including Michael Gallowglas, Davis poet laureate Mercedes Ibañez, Joe Bacchus, Bob Bugg, and Allegra Silberstein.
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 recounts “What Cornell Brought to My Classroom.”
Stay tuned! On November 5th, the Poetry Night Reading Series will return with Caroly Lynn Stevenson Grellas reading from her new book. 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.
