Don Yorty

Daniel W.K. Lee reads from Anatomy of Want

I missed Daniel W.K. Lee’s reading at the Bureau when he was in town. I emailed him and asked if he would read some poems from his new book, Anatomy of Want, so I could share them on my blog. … Continue reading →

Alicia Ostriker reads from The Mother/Child Papers

3 Jun ’22

I read The Mother/Child Papers in one sitting. Perhaps it was so accessible because I was sitting by the Atlantic Ocean, at the same time of year as the book begins, in early May, but decades later. I like … Continue reading →

Daisy Fried reads from The Year the City Emptied, translations and adaptions from Les Fleurs du Mal

1 Jun ’22

During the pandemic, while taking care of her dying husband, quarantined from friends, and without much help from Medicaid, one day in the spring of 2020, Daisy Fried read a translation of Baudelaire’s “Paysage” by John Ashbery, thought to herself, … Continue reading →

Akash and the female nude

31 May ’22

Akash is an artist who lives in Dhaka, Bangladesh. He works hard to present the world as he sees it on his sketchpad, and the sketches Akash recently sent me are preliminary first steps to paintings. He is very … Continue reading →

Ching Ho Cheng Retrospective at the Shepherd Gallery, 2022

29 May ’22

There is a retrospective of Ching Ho Cheng’s work, including some new paintings recently discovered in Vienna, at the Shepherd Gallery at 58 East 79th Street right around the corner from Central Park and the Met. I was especially drawn … Continue reading →

Margo Taft Stever reads from The End of Horses

12 May ’22

When I began to read The End of Horses, I enjoyed the first poem immediately. It’s about riding a horse bareback, and if one has never done that, this poem will be a pleasurable facsimile with its quick three line … Continue reading →

Brenda Coultas reads from The Writing of an Hour

8 May ’22

The poems in The Writing of an Hour happen as the words happen. Now anyone might ask, “Isn’t that obvious?” But what I mean to say is that these poems with their words in the right combinations are written so … Continue reading →

Anselm Berrigan reads from Pregrets

1 May ’22

I have been to many Anselm Berrigan readings over the years and they are always a pleasure because Anselm is a pleasure, and his latest reading was no different. For some, however, pleasure might not be the first word … Continue reading →

Marcella Durand reads from To husband is to tender

1 May ’22

With some books of poetry, you can jump in anywhere, but with Marcella Durand’s To husband is to tender, I would say, “Start at the beginning, and let the book draw you in.” Contemplation, what it means to be … Continue reading →

Barry Schwabsky reads from Feelings of And

1 May ’22

Common comfortable places become uncommon and uncomfortable, common words whose meanings you thought you knew are a puzzle in pieces, and then the puzzle in pieces becomes a thought you know. You see and then you don’t. Some poems … Continue reading →

A Reading for Black Square Editions: Anselm Berrigan, Marcella Durand, and Barry Schwabsky

21 Apr ’22

Weeks before it happened, I had heard about the Black Square Editions book party that was scheduled to take place at the signs and symbols art gallery at 249 East Houston. As the day approached, I looked forward to it … Continue reading →

Matt Proctor reads from Single Room Occupancy

17 Apr ’22

If you want to give words to every moment, every thought and sight worth jotting down, you need a notebook though any scrap of paper will do. Bill Kushner was a poet I remember fondly who always had a … Continue reading →