Author Archives: Don Yorty

Summer Paintings by Charles Burchfield

… Burchfield painted so many summer scenes, I pretty much picked a dozen randomly for this post because they all are so good that it doesn’t matter which ones I choose. When I think of summer, I think of eating … Continue reading →

Learning English: Simple Sentence Syntax

4 Aug ’16

… If you were going to teach English to someone who was just beginning to learn it, what would you teach? There is a game I sometimes play with beginners, a kind of bingo with a die and some beans … Continue reading →

Elaine Equi reads from Sentences and Rain

3 Aug ’16

… Elaine Equi and her husband Jerome Sala came over to my place last week to record some of their poetry. I’d enjoyed hearing Elaine read from her latest book, Sentences and Rain, and was interested to hear that she … Continue reading →

Jerome Sala reads from The Cheapskates and Spaz Attack

31 Jul ’16

… On this past warm Thursday morning, Jerome Sala and his wife Elaine Equi came over to my place, wading through the heat, to read some poetry. I happened to have Jerome’s first book, Spaz Attack, published in Chicago—Elaine and … Continue reading →

Ryan Eckes reads Old News accompanied by Daniel Yorty

27 Jul ’16

… Several years ago my nephew Daniel gave me a CD of the Philadelphia poet Ryan Eckes reading from his first book, Old News, with Daniel accompanying on drums, tambourine, and shakers. The poems are of a piece and tell … Continue reading →

Edwin Denby reads from Snoring in New York

22 Jul ’16

… Snoring in New York was published by Angel Hair in 1974 with a beautiful photo by Rudy Burckhardt on both the front and back covers, dark leaves, white moth. From 1976 until Edwin’s death in 1983, Rudy Burckhardt’s son … Continue reading →

Mariposa de Luz por Juan Ramón Jiménez

19 Jul ’16

… Mariposa de luz, la belleza se va cuando yo llego a su rosa. Corro, ciego, tras ella… la medio cojo aquí y allá… ¡Sólo queda en mi mano la forma de su huída! .. … Butterfly of light its … Continue reading →

Tom Savage reads his Bamiyan Buddha Poems

18 Jul ’16

… I went over to Tom’s apartment on East 11th Street a few weeks ago— it’s just around the corner from where I am—and he read some of his Bamiyan Buddha poems from two of his books, Afghanistan (Fly by … Continue reading →

Uche Nduka reads from Eel on Reef and Nine East

15 Jul ’16

… Uche Nduka, a native Nigerian and now a native New Yorker, was kind enough to come over to my place a few weeks ago to read from his two books of poems, Eel on Reef and Nine East. “Fool … Continue reading →

from Fucking, Part 5

13 Jul ’16

… V for Janis I’ve smoked a thousand cigarettes and watched you sleep. Your Raphael angel curls Your bee stung lips Dare I touch you where the sun hasn’t? Dare I say wake? There is the smell of pepper in … Continue reading →

Catullus 48

1 Jul ’16

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Photographs by Rudy Burckhardt from the 1940s

30 Jun ’16

… Some photos are really magic capturing the exact moment. Many photos by Rudy Burckhardt are that kind of magic even when it’s a building or landscape that doesn’t really move or change. When he snapped, he caught that building … Continue reading →