Author Archives: Don Yorty

Greg Masters reads from What All the Songs Add Up To

… I saw that Greg Masters was going to be having a book party for his new book, What All the Songs Add Up To, written from the 1970s to the present, some forty years of poems. What a great … Continue reading →

Paolo Javier reads Starfish Aorta Colossus from Court of the Dragon and a poem by Frank Lima

7 Jun ’16

… Last week on a sunny afternoon Paolo Javier came over to my place after work—he teaches English at a public high school—because I’d asked to record him reading from his new book, Court of the Dragon, published in 2016 … Continue reading →

Bob Rosenthal reads from Cleaning Up New York

31 May ’16

… Before Bob Rosenthal became Allen Ginsberg’s secretary in 1977, he was cleaning apartments in NYC and studying for an MA in writing with Francine de Plessix Gray, the writer and critic, whose class was focused on nonfiction, the new … Continue reading →

Cliff Fyman reads from Nylon Sunlight and Fever

29 May ’16

… I went over to Cliff Fyman’s apartment last Monday in the early afternoon to record him reading from his chapbooks. Most chapbooks are beautiful to begin with and Cliff’s are no exception. To hold them in your hand is … Continue reading →

Photographs by Rudy Burckhardt from the 1930s

14 May ’16

… Rudy Burckhardt was born in Basel, Switzerland in 1914. While going to medical school in London, he discovered photography. He came to live in New York in 1935. “I really became a New Yorker rather than an American,” he … Continue reading →

Maged Zaher reads from The Consequences of my Body

8 May ’16

… … https://vimeo.com/165756028 …… A year or so ago, I saw Maged Zaher read at the Poetry Project on a Wednesday night. Because I taught classes Monday and Wednesday evenings, I missed most of the readings, though sometimes things worked … Continue reading →

Groggy Morning

6 May ’16

… May 2, 2016 Groggy morning. Working on my own stuff and reading The Consequences of My Body by Maged Zaher, which I’m happy to say I’m enjoying. Finding the time to do things. You can get a lot done … Continue reading →

Fifteen Paintings of the Spring by Charles Burchfield

30 Apr ’16

… Charles Burchfield (1893-1967) painted every season wearing a wide brimmed hat to keep the sun from making him squint. He wanted to see nature clearly, the dark with the light, knowing full well that he needed the darkness to … Continue reading →

Siblings

17 Apr ’16

… Here is my brother Scott and I. My mother gave me the photo, perhaps because I’m the oldest, but I don’t have any children so I’ve given it to Scott to pass along. It will go a lot farther … Continue reading →

Learning English: Main Verbs

9 Apr ’16

… To the English Learner: If you want to learn English, begin with the verbs. That is where the action is. This is true with any language, and very true with English because what makes English English are its helping … Continue reading →

Tennessee Williams reads The Broken Tower by Hart Crane

7 Apr ’16

… Written by Hart Crane earlier in the year of his death, and rejected by Poetry, The Broken Tower was printed in the New Republic soon after his suicide on April 27, 1932. Why did Hart Crane jump into the … Continue reading →

Tennessee Williams reads Eternity by Hart Crane

5 Apr ’16

… There is something about Eternity that has always played on my heart strings. It may be that I heard the poem first read by Tennessee Williams on an LP I’d bought, a Caedmon recording. It is one of the … Continue reading →