Author Archives: Don Yorty

Some Paintings by Sally Young

I saw paintings by Sally Young recently, and enjoyed them so much that I asked her if I could share some of her work on the blog. Sally lives in NYC and conducts art classes at Greenwich House. It … Continue reading →

Richard Loranger reads from Mammal

20 Feb ’24

I agree with the poet Yuko Otomo when she writes that the poems in Richard Loranger’s new book, Mammal, are “written in direct & humble language & with the most personal & natural breath.” Nothing truer has ever been said. … Continue reading →

Nancy Haiduck reads SELLING THE CLASSIFIEDS

16 Feb ’24

In 1967, Nancy Haiduck came from Ohio to New York City and moved in next door to the Judson Church in the West Village. “I was really young, brand new. Green, green, green.” She enrolled in Brooklyn College, which was … Continue reading →

Sonnet 219

15 Feb ’24

… I want to write something about you, butI’m not sure what—You are not with me nowso you are in my thoughts—We are in lovethe two that become one. You ask me howI know. Today was cold. I didn’t expectthe … Continue reading →

Thinking about the future in English with a lesson plan

5 Feb ’24

… In English we deal with the future by using nine helping verbs called modals: will, shall, can, could, would, should, may, might, and must. Only will will ever happen; all the other modals are possibilities, the wouldas, couldas, and … Continue reading →

Alicia Ostriker reads soon to be published poems and an essay

2 Feb ’24

… On January the 27th, the poet Alica Ostriker read unpublished poems and an essay to invited guests at a friend’s apartment on the Upper Westside. I wanted to record her reading. My camcorder, after many years of good service, … Continue reading →

words are birds

29 Jan ’24

… … words are birds eye is sky … … … … …

Basil King’s Illuminations

27 Jan ’24

Basil King did all of his Illuminations the summer of 2021. He and his wife Martha had moved into a little apartment on the third floor of their daughter’s house in Jersey City while their home was being renovated … Continue reading →

Terence Degnan & Denver Butson read from Nobody Birds the Sky

18 Jan ’24

… When Terence Degnan’s father died, he wrote to his friend Denver Buston, and Denver Buston wrote back, what became a correspondence, poem letters, epistles about shared grief, the death of a brother, the death of a father, a work … Continue reading →

Sonnet 92

17 Jan ’24

… To be understood words are objectiveyet we understand them subjectively.When Willa Cather writes, “The long main streetbegan at the church, the town seemed to flowfrom it like a stream from a spring,” the proseforms naturally from the simile.Do you … Continue reading →

Basil King reads from The Cafe Review

6 Dec ’23

… Recently, I visited Basil and Martha King at their beautiful home in Brooklyn. Baz has been sketching faces in charcoal—I really enjoy the adventure of looking at them. Not long ago, he was featured in The Cafe Review, a … Continue reading →

Sonnet 44

30 Nov ’23

… I hear Dad’s chainsaw echo down the fieldcutting firewood for December’s stove. Herknife in hand Mom chops the cabbage she’ll sealin jars pouring boiling water overit first with a tablespoon of sea salt.Come November she’ll have her sauerkraut.Summer yet, … Continue reading →