Poetry Night Reading Series: Maya Khosla and Lisa Dominguez Abraham

The Poetry Night Reading Series is excited to feature Maya Khosla and Lisa Dominguez Abraham at 7 PM on Thursday, April 6th, 2023, on the third floor of the John Natsoulas Gallery, 521 1st Street in Davis.

Maya Khosla is a wildlife biologist and writer. As Poet Laureate Emerita of Sonoma County (2018–2020), she directed Shelter in Poetry films for students and families. Khosla’s essays have appeared in Wild Hope, Flyway, Yes Magazine, Humans and Nature, and elsewhere. Her poetry collections are All the Fires of Wind and Light (Sixteen Rivers Press; 2020 PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Award), Keel Bone (Bear Star Press; Dorothy Brunsman Poetry Prize) and in Heart of the Tearing (Red Dust Press). 

Lisa Dominguez Abraham’s collection Mata Hari Blows a Kiss won the Swan Scythe Chapbook Contest, and her book Coyote Logic was published by Blue Oak Press. She has recent work in COMP: an interdisciplinary journal and Puerto del Sol. Newly returned to the San Francisco Bay Area where she grew up, she lives in Richmond.

Both our featured poets have work appearing in They Rise Like a Wave, an anthology that captures the dynamic and shifting landscape of Asian American poetry. As we can learn from the back cover of this collection, They Rise Like a Wave features “poetics that continues to grow and transform, a poetics that continues by breaking boundaries, experimenting with language, and revitalizing a historically narrow and oppressive Western canon.”

This event will take place on the third floor of the John Natsoulas Gallery (521 1st Street) at 7 PM on Thursday, April 6th, 2023. An open mic will follow the featured performers. Open mic performances will be limited to five 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.

We recommend that you wear a mask to Poetry Night. According to a Yolo County December 6 press release, “This winter is the first in several years where we are seeing significant flu and RSV activity, in addition to COVID-19, so we are now making masking recommendations based on all circulating respiratory viruses, not just on COVID,” said Yolo County Health Officer Dr. Aimee Sisson. “Wearing a high-quality mask indoors is a great way to protect yourself and others from respiratory viruses like flu, RSV, and COVID-19.” This spring, we will likely return to the roof sculpture garden where we can all breathe freely.

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, and by John Natsoulas and 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 http://www.poetryindavis.com. Find the Facebook event page for this event at https://www.facebook.com/events/626346992640390.