Author Archives: Don Yorty

214

… The night comes with a chill not on but in my skin—A spider web at the end of summer stretches in the wind. Decayed dock swaying with my weight sways and sways. Water spiders molest a fallen fly whose … Continue reading →

L’Albatros by Charles Baudelaire

20 Aug ’12

… Souvent, pour s’amuser, les hommes d’équipagePrennent des albatros, vastes oiseaux des mers,Qui suivent, indolents compagnons de voyage,Le navire glissant sur les gouffres amers. À peine les ont-ils déposés sur les planches,Que ces rois de l’azur, maladroits et honteux,Laissent piteusement … Continue reading →

62

17 Aug ’12

… Bird in the tree you are singing to me as if you know and care that I am here each note intended to put in my ear a song. What is alone can be pretty sharing itself, staccato before … Continue reading →

Sonnet 46: It’s the same moon, but a different world.

13 Aug ’12

… It’s the same moon, but a different world. When we were only little boys at night we looked at this half moon glowing as bright outshining all the stars. Now lights unfurled by passing cars shine brighter and … Continue reading →

Translation of some of the Satyricon by Petronius kind of as a rock lyric

5 Aug ’12

… “Quis furor,” exclamat, “pacem convertit in arma? Quid nostrae meruere manus? Non Troius heros hac in classe vehit decepti pignus Atridae, nec Medea furens fraterno sanguine pugnat. Sed contemptus amor vires habet. Ei mihi, fata hos inter fluctus quis … Continue reading →

Catullus 2: Passer, deliciae meae puellae

4 Aug ’12

… Passer, deliciae meae puellae quicum ludere, quem in sinu tenere, cui primum digitum dare appetenti et acris solet incitare morsus cum desiderio meo nitenti carum nescio quid lubet iocare, et solaciolum sui doloris, credo, ut tum gravis acquiescat ardor: … Continue reading →

Students & Sonnet 66: My Spanish-speaking students ask me where

28 Jul ’12

December 21, 2011 On discussing the qualities of confidence the other day, a group of my students decided that the ability to be persuaded, to change your mind was a quality of confidence, because only those with confidence in their … Continue reading →

Yangtze Sonnets

21 Jul ’12

… I wrote first drafts of these poems in early August of 2006 over a few days going through the Three Gorges on the Yangtze River with some colleagues, fellow American faculty, who’d taught American Cultural Studies (I’d covered music) … Continue reading →

Sonnet 139: Out of the dark the steep mountains come. At

21 Jul ’12

Out of the dark the steep mountains come. At First a line and nothing more appears on Either side for a long time then there’s light Inside a house, someone sleeping who woke. I am all alone along the Yangtze … Continue reading →

Some thoughts on the art and the artist

15 Jul ’12

… The art and the artist, can we love one and not the other? It’s a difficult question to answer. Sometimes my heroes might seem to some a little foolish, embarrassing or pathetic, like Li Bai trying to kiss the … Continue reading →

83

7 Jul ’12

… My mouth is as slimy as a warm snail. Walking down the mountain navigating Sharp rocks and the loose snapping sticks lying In wait to strike at my legs on the trail All that is wet is oozing out … Continue reading →

90

5 Jul ’12

… The poet slides on her bottom stubborn As a turtle over slippery stones Sitting inching picking up the large ones That hinder her path dropping them to form An island in the current that’s rushing At us. I’m on … Continue reading →