Don Yorty

Donna Fleischer reads for the Edge Reading Series

I got to know Donna Fleischer through her online website, word pond, where she shares the work of other poets, artists, and musicians, both dead and alive, one big happy family. Because word pond has been a vital supporter of … Continue reading →

Marc Chagall: Six Paintings

21 Apr ’23

… I became aware of Marc Chagall when I was a teenager in the 1960’s. Many of the artists I discovered then were still alive like Dali, Picasso, Georgia O’Keeffe, Marcel Duchamp, and Marc Chagall too, whose brides, goats, and … Continue reading →

April Blossoms 2013 (remembering the Boston Marathon Bombing)

9 Apr ’23

… 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 →

Jim Feast reads from (a strange awakening of light that takes the place of dawn)

8 Apr ’23

The work Jim Feast did in his early twenties in Chicago, (a strange awakening of light that takes the place of dawn), is a testimony to the grit and will of a young man who wants to be a poet. … Continue reading →

Gerald Wagoner reads from A Month of Someday

6 Apr ’23

… In Brooklyn near the Gowanus Canal, Gerald Wagoner has been hosting a popular reading series for several years now that he calls The Persistance of Cormorants; so it was only fitting that, with the publication of his debut chapbook, … Continue reading →

March Drawings by Akram

28 Mar ’23

Since the beginning of March, the first thing Akram does when he wakes up is to reach for his sketchbook and pens and with the first sip of coffee—First thought, best thought—he begins. Here are a few of his morning … Continue reading →

Walking Blues

13 Mar ’23

When Robert Johnson recorded “Walking Blues” in 1936, he was working from a version Son House, not the Devil, had taught him. And the great Son House himself was borrowing from a Blues tradition that began after the Civil War … Continue reading →

“Bird of Paradise, Bird of Destruction” by Neddi Heller

13 Mar ’23

I have been enjoying the work of Neddi Heller for many years. There is always something there. Her painting, “Bird of Paradise, Bird of Destruction,” is twenty years old. It was recently shown, for the first time, in a show. … Continue reading →

Fame

12 Mar ’23

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 →

Dipika Mukherjee reads from Dialect of Distant Harbors

7 Mar ’23

At KGB in NYC not too long ago, I enjoyed hearing Dipika Mukherjee read from her newest book, Dialect of Distant Harbors, and wanted to get her on the blog. She had just flown in from Chicago and was flying … Continue reading →

With Susan Bee: Apocalypse Paintings

2 Mar ’23

I’ve been wanting to have Susan Bee on the blog. Her upcoming show at A.I.R. Gallery was perfect timing. On Tuesday, I visited her Brooklyn studio to see her latest paintings, adventures in color and imagination via, at this … Continue reading →

On Sketches by Matisse

26 Feb ’23

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 →