Author Archives: Don Yorty

In my words, May 13 – 19

… I was looking through photographs, all in a mess, not looking for anything in particular, and found the one above taken, I think, around 1987. At first I thought it was Life Cafe, but the closer I looked I … Continue reading →

In my words, May 6 – 12

12 May ’13

… The photo above is Life Cafe, or what is left of Life Cafe, 10th Street and Avenue B, NYC. (Oh those were the days!) Confucius—or was it Lao Tzu?—said that we should never be too happy on a good … Continue reading →

In my words, April 29 – May 5

5 May ’13

… My mother used to have a plaque on the wall; I think it was made of wrought iron, painted black with white and red lettering if I remember correctly that said: ……Make new friends. ……Keep the old. ……One is … Continue reading →

Tennessee Williams reads Hart Crane, poems from The Bridge

4 May ’13

… The Bridge, it’s said, was Hart Crane’s reaction to T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land, which he admired very much, but Crane wanted to write about a much happier, and more American, landscape. For awhile he was in love with … Continue reading →

In my words, April 22 – 28

28 Apr ’13

… On Friday I took the C uptown to 96th Street. A man on the train, as a pretty woman entered and sat down across from him, was reading the Times, but his eyes fluttered at the top of the … Continue reading →

La Beauté par Charles Baudelaire

27 Apr ’13

… Je suis belle, ô mortels! comme un rêve de pierre, Et mon sein, où chacun s’est meurtri tour à tour, Est fait pour inspirer au poète un amour Eternel et muet ainsi que la matière. Je trône dans l’azur … Continue reading →

La Primavera by Pablo Neruda

23 Apr ’13

… El pájaro ha venido a dar la luz: de cada trino suyo nace el agua. Y entre agua y luz que el aire desarrollan ya está la primavera inaugurada, ya sabe la semilla que ha crecido, la raíz se … Continue reading →

In my words, April 15 – 21

21 Apr ’13

… When I got home from work Monday afternoon, the news from Boston came over the Internet and spread so quickly that when I went to teach my evening class at PS 188, the security guards were talking about it. … Continue reading →

Three Lovely Poems with Rotting Carcasses in Them: Baudelaire, Eberhart & Yorty

20 Apr ’13

… Charles Baudelaire wrote Une Charogne to his lover, Jeanne Duval, a Haitian actress, who met him when she left Haiti for France in 1842. Whether she died sooner or lived longer than the poet is in dispute, though both … Continue reading →

In my words, April 8 – 14

14 Apr ’13

… On Friday, as I walked down 2nd Avenue in the rain coming back from the gym—after some laps in the pool (my crawl is getting better, less pain in the muscles in my left arm each time I move), … Continue reading →

In my words, April 1 – 7

7 Apr ’13

…. On April Fool’s Day, a friend, Dustin Kelly, who has become a berry farmer and producer of jellies, announced on Facebook: “Hey everybody, great news! It was kind of a back up plan, but I got an acceptance letter … Continue reading →

In my words, March 25 – 31

31 Mar ’13

… Here with Dad for a week in the South Mountain. For two days it snowed and drizzled. Akram and I slept, slowed down from New York. Thursday we walked up Fire Tower Road—we still call it that although no … Continue reading →