Author Archives: Don Yorty

5 American Poets: for the English teacher

… The five poems and poets that follow are for anyone who enjoys poetry, of course, but they are also for English or ESL teachers who are looking to do a class with some poetry. I made Vimeos to go … Continue reading →

25

20 Mar ’12

… My cat and I play chasing each other. He jumps while I write and then stretches out full length in back of the warm computer to claw my hand when it comes in sight. Ouch! Ow! I say but … Continue reading →

Homesickness by Min

18 Mar ’12

… It is a flying bird without feet but never gets tired It is a strong tree without roots but never turns weak It keeps disturbing wonderful dreams Hence souls wander forever … Min was a student of mine during … Continue reading →

22

17 Mar ’12

… The fortunate fish escaped from the net knows what it is like to go to heaven. Is life the net? Is that what Buddha meant? Are the holes in the hands the nails nail in not only bleeding, but … Continue reading →

19

14 Mar ’12

… My hands are numb and yet the sun is bright. It’s early spring when death becomes alive. Crows caw, geese honk and the mallards quack at The pond. The ice is gone but at the back Of the barn … Continue reading →

43

12 Mar ’12

… You do not tell a snake which way to twist its limb nor cats where they can or can’t walk. And the same holds true for the sonnet, its thoughts are its own. Through me you hear it talk … Continue reading →

Love Is Not All by Edna St. Vincent Millay

27 Feb ’12

… Today, Monday, February 22, Edna St. Vincent Millay, had she lived, would have been 124. I was a little over a year old when she died. In my youth I swear I read somewhere that she had a heart … Continue reading →

Harlem by Langston Hughes

16 Feb ’12

… On the R subway platform going north at Whitehall Street there is a girder whose peeling paint looked to me like a camel; it inspired me to recite Harlem by Langston Hughes although you won’t get to Harlem riding … Continue reading →

Poetry Lesson: Fog by Carl Sandburg

5 Feb ’12

… What follows is an ESL lesson I use with Fog by Carl Sandburg. I present it from the point of view of a teacher talking. The objective is to get the student writing, and that process is divided into … Continue reading →

windskin for Yoko Ono

22 Jan ’12

… wind isn’t skinwind touches skinwind I loved Yoko Ono before John Lennon did. I read about her in the school library in 1965 in a Time magazine waiting for the elementary school bus to take me home … Continue reading →

Taking Down the Wreath

8 Jan ’12

… Light several candles and notice that each candle’s flame is different like individuals, all flame but none the same. All we can do is flicker and whatever fears and doubts we carry cannot stop us, but merely go along, … Continue reading →

The Story of Jingle Bells

17 Dec ’11

… Jingle Bells was written as a Thanksgiving song by James Lord Pierpont in the autumn of 1850 in a tavern in Medford, Massachusetts, a town popular for its sleigh races. Dashing through the snow In a one-horse open sleigh … Continue reading →