Davis poet community resurfaces at the John Natsoulas Gallery
PHOTO: Damieka Thomas stands on stage, introducing herself and promoting “Mad Mouth Poetry”, a safe space for all kinds of people that amplifies their poet voices.
By Jolie Boucher,
BlueDevilHUB.com Staff–
Light chatter between poets and poem appreciators filled the brisk air and the setting sun provided ambient light as the Davis poetry community resurfaced Thursday afternoon on the roof of the Natsoulas Gallery.
This event was designed by Andy Jones in the hopes to create a community for all kinds of people.
Jones described some qualities that drew him to poetry in the first place. “The opportunity to step outside the world of logic and causality and to instead exist in a world of emotion, beauty, linguistic play and discovery,“ Jones said.
Jones did not feel like Davis offered a fulfilling poetry scene so he took matters into his own hands and created the scene himself.
Welcomed to the microphone was the first poet, Damieka Thomas, a mixed-race poet who has been writing since elementary school.
Thomas read two of her poems: “We are the Keepers of the Land” and “White Girl”.
“Poetry gives me a way to express things that I have a hard time expressing … gives me a way to process emotions that are really complicated to understand without having that language,“ Thomas said.
She hopes others will learn from and be able to relate to the poems.
Later, open mic poets also contributed to this art community. Multiple UC Davis students participated in this portion of the evening as well as other community members.
Jones concluded the poetry night with a verse of his own titled, “I can’t go but I’m interested”, which received laughs from all the poets and poem appreciators present.
