For the Reporter

Poetry at the Rainbow Café presents the works of Davy Jones Nguyen and Benjamin Schmitt on Monday, Jan. 7.

The program is from 7 to 9 p.m. in the banquet room at the café, 112 E. Main St.

Coffee and conversation follow readings. It is an open mic opportunity. The public is invited.

About the poets

Nguyen: “Art should at once concern the sensual, the psychological and the personal. Where an artist makes themselves present is in the attempt at reconciling art with truths, or even further; of using art as a means to produce truth. Trying to maintain a thread between poetry and philosophy it is important for me to create works that are at once confessional while also concerned with three general themes: how it is we can really inhabit what we create as ourselves, love and chinchillas.”

Schmitt’s poetry has been published in Solo Novo, Otis Nebula, Splash of Red, The Write Place at the Write Time, The Pacific Review, The Chaffey Review, and elsewhere. His first book, “The global conspiracy to get you in bed,” was published in 2013 by Kelsay Books. He and his wife live in Seattle, where he teaches workshops to children and adults

The Rainbow Cafe, Striped Water Poets, the NorthWest Renaissance, Auburn Arts Commission, City of Auburn, and King County 4Culture make the program possible.