© 2021 Don Yorty. All rights reserved.
One of my favorite paintings, El Perro (The Dog) as it is called—I think you could call it The Abyss—was never given a title by Goya who painted it on the wall of his home between 1819 and 1823 … Continue reading
© 2021 Don Yorty. All rights reserved.
In October Wayne Koestenbaum read at the Segue Reading Series at Artists Space in Cortlandt Alley, right off Canal. Lonely Christopher, the curator and host, introduced him, and is letting me include his introduction here. His introductions are so well-read … Continue reading
© 2021 Don Yorty. All rights reserved.
On Saturday October 17 there was a reading at the Moore Homestead Playground in Elmhurst, Queens in celebration of Paolo Javier’s new book, O.B.B. (The Original Brown Boy), hot off the presses, published by Nightboat Books. A lively group … Continue reading
© 2021 Don Yorty. All rights reserved.
On Monday night, November 1, I went to KGB to hear some poetry. Jonathan Wells was the featured reader. I didn’t know his work (there is a lot I don’t know) so when he got to the microphone, I was … Continue reading
© 2021 Don Yorty. All rights reserved.
I was so happy to go and listen to Melinda Wilson read at KGB that I couldn’t wait to get there. Her poems are sexy and witty and when they are angry, they smile. Her ability to focus on an … Continue reading
© 2021 Don Yorty. All rights reserved.
During October, I got to see Bina Sharif’s “Life Is a One Act Play” twice. The first time was at Green Oasis Garden on East 8th Street in the East Village on a late Sunday afternoon. With the stage … Continue reading
© 2021 Don Yorty. All rights reserved.
On Thursday, October 14, at 8 PM there was a performance of “Uncle” at Unnamable Books in Brooklyn that took place in the garden that is reached through the back of the store, one of the best intimate performance … Continue reading
© 2021 Don Yorty. All rights reserved.
The best translation by far that I have come across of Guillaume Apollinaire’s poetry is by Ron Padgett in a book published by the New York Review of Books in 2015 simply titled, Zone, Selected Poems. When Ron Padgett … Continue reading
© 2021 Don Yorty. All rights reserved.
On Saturday, October 9, toward evening, in La Plaza Cultural, near the southwest corner of 9th Street and Avenue C, Yoshiko Chuma and The School of Hard Knocks performed a dance piece called “Hey Women” that used the ensemble in … Continue reading
© 2021 Don Yorty. All rights reserved.
Over the years, I’ve enjoyed watching Bina Sharif work on stage. Her work is thoughtful, and often pulls comedy out of tragedy; she can be very funny like a stand up comic. On August 1st, Bina posted this on … Continue reading
© 2021 Don Yorty. All rights reserved.
I first met Dennis Cooper in the late 1970s when he visited Philadelphia. He had heard the poetry scene in Philly was hopping and had come to check it out. He read at the Painted Bride if I remember. … Continue reading
© 2021 Don Yorty. All rights reserved.
Wanda Phipps with Virlana Tkacz translated a timely play by the Ukrainian poet, Lesia Ukrainka, called Forest Song. Over the summer, a version of the play using other sources as well, A Thousand Suns, was performed by the Yara … Continue reading