Don Yorty

A walk and some thoughts in a September woods

Written September the 9th, 2015 with the accompanying photos taken along the way. Walking in the woods today I remembered back in the 1950s when my grandfather’s cousin Charles from Philadelphia would come to visit. It was a … Continue reading →

Steve Levine reads some poems

29 Aug ’24

…. Some poets spend time with the language and know its foundations, its rhythms and its gifts of color and sense, and in the act of writing a poem, like a stone mason who works each stone, put words where … Continue reading →

Come Here, Roberta

28 Aug ’24

“Come Here, Roberta” is one of the beautiful songs. I first heard Leadbelly singing it when I was a teenager, and I’ve changed a few of the words in passing it along. The words Old Time Used-to-be are mournful and … Continue reading →

Two Floors in August

25 Aug ’24

… Mountain floor, city floor. What grows and where it grows is interesting and has to do with time and place and what you see and what you don’t. Look. Epiphanies are like those snakes that could have bitten you. … Continue reading →

Anne Waldman and Ken Angel Davis at MacDougal Street

25 Aug ’24

Ken Angel Davis likes to make art out of a poet’s poem. He did this with Anne Waldman, a short poem that you will hear with delight below. Ken did it and it happened. Enjoy. … Continue reading →

Tess Taylor reads at KGB

23 Aug ’24

… I read Tess Taylor’s Work & Days on a subway ride from Manhattan to Brooklyn. There was a delay, but I wasn’t in a hurry, and actually welcomed the time to finish the book because the quality and rhythm … Continue reading →

Horace, Odes, 1.11

19 Jul ’24

… The phrase “Carpe diem” comes from Horace, Book I, poem 11. I found a humble translation that I did years ago in a totally forgotten archive, and liked it well enough to post it on my Facebook page: … Continue reading →

Wuhan Poets 2010

15 Jul ’24

Time contains memories that are a pleasure to remember, memories that also bring pleasure to others. From 2006 to 2010, I taught English during the summer at Wuhan University in Wuhan, China. In the evening for an extracurricular activity, I … Continue reading →

Carmina Catulli: 1 through 10

13 Jul ’24

… What follows are the first ten poems of Catullus in Latin with humble translations by me; I also do a reading in Latin of Catullus 2: Passer. Hope you enjoy it and get a feeling for the sounds. The … Continue reading →

Sonetos Espirituales por Juan Ramón Jiménez

12 Jul ’24

Sonetos Espirituales por Juan Ramón Jiménez III Mientras la última luz de la esperanza alumbre débilmente mi camino, yo iré, sonriendo y fiel, a mi destino, contento, como un niño, de la andanza. ¡Ay, qué vivir de bienaventuranza la de … Continue reading →

Catullus, poems 11 through 17

12 Jul ’24

XI Furi et Aureli, comites Catulli, sive in extremos penetrabit Indos, litus ut longe resonante Eoa ……….tunditur unda, sive in Hyrcanos Arabasve molles, seu Sacas sagittiferosve Parthos, sive quae septemgeminus colorat ……….aequora Nilus, sive trans altas gradietur Alpes Caesaris … Continue reading →

Scottish Sonnets

23 Jun ’24

These sonnets were written during a trip I took from the Yorkshire Dales to Edinburgh with my friend Pat Maples in June of 2009. These sonnets are for Pat Maples. Enjoy. 181 As the Labradors black as night splash … Continue reading →