Don Yorty

Two Lesson Plans with Picture Prompts for Writing

… One of the tasks for an English teacher is to get students writing. I have found that putting students into groups to work on one paragraph together prepares them for writing on their own. Here are two lesson plans … Continue reading →

Bill Kushner reads Neighbor

28 Jun ’20

… Bill Kushner and I used to meet and walk. On this August day, I met Bill at the F train at East Broadway, and we walked to Chrystie Street for a lunch special at the Bite of Hong Kong. … Continue reading →

La Plaza poems for the Rites of Spring

26 Jun ’20

… In celebration of New York City’s parks and gardens, Felicia Young asked me to contribute to the annual Rites of Spring, which is usually held with costumes and a parade through the Lower East Side. This year because of … Continue reading →

Tess Taylor reads from Last West: Roadsongs for Dorothea Lange

25 Jun ’20

… On a Thursday I went to see Dorothea Lange’s “Words and Pictures” at MoMa, and on the following Monday, as luck would have it, I heard Tess Taylor read at KGB from her new book that the museum had … Continue reading →

The Rabbit and the Turtle: The First Four Lessons

3 Jun ’20

… The first four lessons of the Rabbit and the Turtle get students creating language, writing sentences with that language, discovering parts of speech from their sentences, and then writing a story with the vocabulary the whole class has generated. … Continue reading →

Judith Braun: Drawing While Listening

28 May ’20

… … From the very first time I saw the art of Judith Braun, I’ve loved it. Though it changes, the remarkable meditative quality remains. Here are a few from the month of May, from her “Drawing While Listening” series. … Continue reading →

Val Vinokur reads from Isaac Babel, The Essential Fictions

26 May ’20

… When I heard Val Vinokur read from Isaac Babel, The Essential Fictions it was an epiphany. I’d heard of Isaac Babel, but I’d never read him, and always associated him with Sholem Aleicham on Broadway in Fiddler on the … Continue reading →

Who Is Standing Where?

22 May ’20

…… To the teacher: This is a very good activity for a new class on the first day, an Icebreaker. In groups of seven, students will get to know each other as they talk and select roles. Who will be … Continue reading →

Susana H. Case reads from Dead Shark on the N Train

14 May ’20

… Years ago a friend, Lynn McGee, said that she wanted me to meet a friend of hers, Susana Case, whom she thought was a wonderful poet, and not only that, but a favorite of hers. “You have to read … Continue reading →

Sonnet 233: Mother and the Black Snake

10 May ’20

… My mother pulled the black snake from the bush. Long snake gone from fleeing to being held twined around her arm and opened its mouth but mother only laughed and let it twist. Her friends who had come to … Continue reading →

Collaborations with Greg Masters

10 May ’20

… Something important arrived in the mail last week: an advanced copy of Collaborations, which is edited by Greg Masters, and will be released by the end of May. I came to New York City in 1979 around the time … Continue reading →

David Bowie and Arthur Rimbaud

1 May ’20

… Not doing much this morning, but not doing is doing, right? Listening to Youtube: Martha and the Vandellas, Santana, and David Bowie: the man who could do a show. I’ve always thought “Heroes” was Bowie’s homage to Arthur Rimbaud’s … Continue reading →