Don Yorty

AMERICAN POETS CONGRESS: I AM AN AMERICAN POET

… On April 29, 2018, the American Poets Congress gave a reading at Poets House in NYC. This nascent group began to take shape shortly after the election of Donald Trump. On December 20, 2016, Patricia Spears Jones reached out … Continue reading →

Grace Schulman reads from Strange Paradise @KGB, March 18, 2019

9 Apr ’19

… I was very busy on Monday, March 18, but I went to KGB to hear Grace Schulman read at seven that evening, and I’m glad I did. Her reading was a gentle tour de force that began with a … Continue reading →

Scott Hightower reads from Tartessos

31 Mar ’19

… Scott Hightower’s newest book of poems, Tartessos, takes place in western Spain, recording landscapes and cities, the history of politicians and artists, people the poet knows and knew through his partner, José Luis Fernández de Albornoz, whose roots there … Continue reading →

An ESL Lesson: Writing a Story Using Picture Prompts and Correction Marks

4 Mar ’19

… To the teacher: I took the idea for this lesson from an ESL workbook that I used many years ago. Nothing remains of the book, but for this picture, which I now use as a prompt to get students … Continue reading →

Janet Hamill reads from Real Fire

3 Mar ’19

… I saw Janet Hamill at Bowery Poetry on Sunday, February 10. Anton Yakovlev runs a Sunday afternoon reading there, and this was the first I attended. Janet read from a new book called Real Fire, an illuminating work that … Continue reading →

Craig Kite reads The Small Print

1 Mar ’19

… A few months ago I arrived late at a LiveMag! reading at La Mama because I was coming from a KGB reading—this was on a Monday night and La Mama, as those who know know, is a few doors … Continue reading →

Katy Bohinc reads from Scorpio

26 Feb ’19

… Katy Bohinc came over to my place after Lee Ann Brown had suggested that I record her reading some of her poems. “You’ll really like her poetry,” Lee Ann said. Katy had stayed with Lee Ann for awhile and … Continue reading →

Bob Holman reads from Sing This One Back To Me at Saint Marks Bookstore, August 27, 2013 with Salieu Suso on the Kora

24 Feb ’19

… Talk about an archive; I just came across an event I recorded in 2013: Bob Holman at the Saint Marks Bookstore where he read from his new book, Sing This One Back to Me, in tandem with Salieu Suso, … Continue reading →

Gordon Parks at the National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, November 4, 2018 – February 18, 2019

17 Feb ’19

… The Gordon Parks show of photos from the 1940s closed on Monday at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC although I have archived nineteen of the photos here with a link to the National Gallery too. I … Continue reading →

Leaves of Grass Illustrated by Margaret C. Cook, 1913

12 Feb ’19

… I was reading an Internet magazine, Brainpickings, about the correspondence between Bram Stoker and Walt Whitman, writers who have provided me with two of the most enjoyable reads of my life, Dracula when I was thirteen, and Leaves of … Continue reading →

Just Practicing

6 Feb ’19

… … Somebody asked me to perform at a benefit in April, and I immediately said No, and then as we talked, I thought of course I should do it and said, Yes. I’ll practice, and that is what I … Continue reading →

Michael Lally reads from Another Way to Play, St. Mark’s Poetry Project, May 9, 2018

2 Feb ’19

… Michael Lally had and has the knack to make the matter of fact profound, which might be easy enough to read, but isn’t as easy as it sounds; seeing the essence of a thing is a gift Michael had … Continue reading →