© 2024 Don Yorty. All rights reserved.
Written September the 9th, 2015 with the accompanying photos taken along the way. Walking in the woods today I remembered back in the 1950s when my grandfather’s cousin Charles from Philadelphia would come to visit. It was a … Continue reading
© 2024 Don Yorty. All rights reserved.
“Come Here, Roberta” is one of the beautiful songs. I first heard Leadbelly singing it when I was a teenager, and I’ve changed a few of the words in passing it along. The words Old Time Used-to-be are mournful and … Continue reading
© 2024 Don Yorty. All rights reserved.
… Mountain floor, city floor. What grows and where it grows is interesting and has to do with time and place and what you see and what you don’t. Look. Epiphanies are like those snakes that could have bitten you. … Continue reading
© 2024 Don Yorty. All rights reserved.
… I recently discovered this in the blog archives—I felt uncomfortable publishing it almost a decade ago, but I am publishing it now. May 9, 2016 I am writing to a poet friend. I wanted her to know that … Continue reading
© 2023 Don Yorty. All rights reserved.
… September 30 When I get off the L Train at First Avenue, I usually take the Avenue A exit which is closer to home, but I had to stop at the post office and CVS so I got off … Continue reading
© 2023 Don Yorty. All rights reserved.
September 8 The elevator isn’t working; we have a first floor room with a view of the pool. I’ll get to practice my awful French with the Haitian staff, me and Google Translate. J’ai encore sommeil. J’ai besoin d’une serviette … Continue reading
© 2023 Don Yorty. All rights reserved.
… I got a fan letter from Janis Joplin once about a decade after her death. How is this possible? Her friend and lover, Linda Waldron, whom I knew through my friend Patti, was a psychic and sometimes, especially … Continue reading
© 2023 Don Yorty. All rights reserved.
… Friday I walked through Central Park with two old friends. We began on 96th Street and walked along the stream and little lakes on our way to the Conservatory Garden. There was a slight drizzle for about twenty minutes, … Continue reading
© 2023 Don Yorty. All rights reserved.
On Valentine’s Day, I handed out my haiku postcard to my High Beginner ESL class at LaGuardia Community College. I had been teaching the class since October, and this being the second semester, some new students were added. Jing Yi, … Continue reading
© 2023 Don Yorty. All rights reserved.
When I was eighteen, I saw a film of Matisse sketching his grandson. He did sketch after sketch, each time simpler. The portrait never became abstract, it simply became a face with fewer and fewer lines needed to give … Continue reading
© 2022 Don Yorty. All rights reserved.
I brought tulips home to lift Akram’s spirit, and he took two photos of them that lifted mine.
© 2021 Don Yorty. All rights reserved.
Yesterday, August the third, my friend Tom and I took our walk through Central Park. We always meet at 96th Street Central Park West and walk east from there through the ravine to the falls where we sometimes go … Continue reading