Author Archives: Don Yorty

Branches and Clouds

… I am walking in the woods. I took some pictures of treetops and clouds. Still on the phone, I am not sure if any of them are really good but it will give you an idea of the walk. … Continue reading →

On Climbing Up and Down a Mountain

25 Mar ’16

… Well, here I am on top of the mountain. Ready to walk down the mountain. And then I will walk back up again. You might think of it as easy first and hard second or you might think of … Continue reading →

Barbara Henning reads from A Day Like Today

13 Mar ’16

… Barbara Henning’s new book, A Day Like Today, is about a day among days, that one among many, meditative and observant. The cover is a drawing by the poet Cliff Fyman entitled Woman Walking on Avenue B. Barbara, who … Continue reading →

Sleep Vanishes

7 Mar ’16

… … Apparent rari nantes in gurgite vasto. A few swimmers appear in a huge whirlpool. —Vergil … When sleep vanishes then you swim. Awake is no island merely swift stroke and breath. The moon is not the sun’s skull … Continue reading →

On Grand Street, March 4, 2016

5 Mar ’16

… Went to Grand Street today to get a haircut ($5 + $2 tip = $7) at the Chinese barber. I saw the man who would be after me reading the newspaper. Mitt Romney was on the front page. He … Continue reading →

February, South Mountain, Sun and Fog, Remembered, Forgotten

29 Feb ’16

What a difference a day makes even at my father’s pond in the South Mountain, sunny one day, next day full of clouds. The beginning of the month, February 2 and 3. Who remembers those days now?

Bob Rosenthal reads Morning Poems

29 Feb ’16

… I am so happy that I finally got around to recording Bob Rosenthal reading Morning Poems, poems he had written when he was a senior at the University of Illinois at Chicago in the early 70s, poems jotted down … Continue reading →

Tom Savage reads from 135 Poems, collaborations with Bill Kushner

26 Feb ’16

… The poet Bill Kushner always carried a notebook to write in when the spirit moved him, which was often and anywhere. Bill was a real collaborator too. Collaborating helped the writing process along. For the last two years of … Continue reading →

Mar Ideal por Juan Ramón Jiménez

16 Feb ’16

… One of the great love stories is the marriage of Spanish poets, Zenobia Camprubí and Juan Ramón Jiménez. This poem by Jiménez is sublime and fluid while my translation doggy paddles. Focus on the Spanish. … … … … Continue reading →

A Refusal to Mourn the Death, by Fire, of a Child in London by Dylan Thomas

16 Feb ’16

.. … Never until the mankind making Bird beast and flower Fathering and all humbling darkness Tells with silence the last light breaking And the still hour Is come of the sea tumbling in harness And I must enter again … Continue reading →

sweet spring is your time is my time is our time by e. e. cummings

12 Feb ’16

… sweet spring is your time is my time is our time for springtime is lovetime and viva sweet love (all the merry little birds are flying in the floating in the very spirits singing in are winging in the … Continue reading →

In Memory of W. B. Yeats

4 Feb ’16

… Last week, 77 years ago, William Butler Yeats died on January 28, 1939 at Hôtel Idéal Séjour, in Menton, France. His later years remain controversial; he became more conservative as his anti-democratic sympathies grew, as well as his admiration … Continue reading →