Author Archives: Don Yorty

A Solar Eclipse with Dad

… December 25, 2000 Late in the morning I walked through the mountain to forget my problems and take a refreshing breath on the road up to the old fire tower, no longer in use, fenced off with barbed wire. … Continue reading →

In my words, June 10 – 16

16 Jun ’13

… … Above you see my father, his glasses reflecting the camera’s flash, stacking his wood, Father Time. My father in the clipping below is younger than his grandsons now. When I think of my father, I often think of … Continue reading →

In my words, June 3 – 9

9 Jun ’13

… … I’ve been going through papers and found a piece I wrote on June 11, 2001 called The Last Day of School. I was teaching at a public school then in a federally funded program helping inner city parents … Continue reading →

In my words, May 27 – June 2

2 Jun ’13

… I am sorry, but it’s been a sad week pretty much from beginning to end. Days went from chilly to hot. The allergies I’ve been avoiding all spring kicked in and I developed a sore throat where every swallow’s … Continue reading →

In my words, May 20 – 26

26 May ’13

… I tell my students I’m not religious freeing myself from taking sides in any discussions that might come up although they never do: English is what’s important, similarity not difference. My students are mostly Christians from South America, Muslims … Continue reading →

In my words, May 13 – 19

19 May ’13

… 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 →