Don Yorty

Celebrating Paolo Javier’s O.B.B.

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 →

Jonathan Wells reads from Debris

11 Nov ’21

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 →

Melinda Wilson reads at KGB

9 Nov ’21

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 →

“Life Is a One Act Play” by Bina Sharif

27 Oct ’21

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 →

“Uncle” by Dennis Moritz with Beverly Gunn and A.J. Khaw

22 Oct ’21

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 →

Le Pont Mirabeau read by Guillaume Apollinaire and translated by Ron Padgett

21 Oct ’21

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 →

Yoshiko Chuma and The School of Hard Knocks in “Hey Women”

12 Oct ’21

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 →

Bina Sharif’s Rage on the Page

9 Oct ’21

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 →

Dennis Cooper reads from I Wished

20 Sep ’21

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 →

Wanda Phipps reads from Mind Honey

16 Sep ’21

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 →

Arup Datta, Rickshaws and Bicycles

15 Sep ’21

Arup Datta during the month of August did a lot of drawings of bicycles, but he began the month with rickshaws. So I’ll start there. Enjoy. “There are still some hand-pulled rickshaws in central … Continue reading →

Terence Degnan reads from I Can Wonder Anything

14 Sep ’21

Earlier this summer, just as the pandemic was easing up, and we could gather in crowds, out in the open air again, there was a poetry reading in Gowanus that I went to, right by the canal, a beautiful … Continue reading →