© 2010 Don Yorty. All rights reserved.
Some of my homeroom students also attended my poetry workshop. As I’ve mentioned before they aren’t English majors or poets. They are scientists and mathematicians. Li Feng works with electric information, Lily is a chemist, Celeste and Kelvin are … Continue reading
© 2010 Don Yorty. All rights reserved.
… Homerooms are like your children. You always love the ones you get. This year at Wuhan University was no different. My students have a wide range of majors: mathematics, electrical, hydrogen, and power engineering, biology, chemistry, surveying and mapping, … Continue reading
© 2010 Don Yorty. All rights reserved.
… This short poem was written summer of 2010 by Muhammad, a Muslim student of mine from western China. He is the first student at Wuhan I’ve ever had who wasn’t Hun Chinese. There are more foreign students on campus, … Continue reading
© 2010 Don Yorty. All rights reserved.
When I first met Rich, the summer of 2008, I thought she was very shy, but I also knew she was confident enough to give me a poem she had written for a class assignment. Like most of my … Continue reading
© 2010 Don Yorty. All rights reserved.
It is so hot before you run you sweat. Fanning himself a man and his wife walk Holding hands. He sings and she doesn’t with Just as much force. It’s dawn. The lighter it Gets the more the runners … Continue reading
© 2010 Don Yorty. All rights reserved.
… One way for an ESL teacher to get students to write in English is to have them translate a poem they know from their own language. Iris was in my poetry workshop summer of 2010. She introduced me to … Continue reading
© 2010 Don Yorty. All rights reserved.
Every country has its radicals, thank goodness, most within a stone’s throw, and if you look, you will find them, like the truth. Even radicals can be in love, and feel its pangs, and write about it. Di Wu … Continue reading
© 2010 Don Yorty. All rights reserved.
… The six photos above were picked at random. I first picked 13 because 13 is one of my favorite numbers, then I flipped a coin, tails (odds) and heads (even) to eliminate either 6 or 7 of them. It … Continue reading
© 2010 Don Yorty. All rights reserved.
… Eden is my youngest student. She is 15 and still in high school. Like many 15 year olds, Eden is a joy: every moment is something new. I showed the class a poem by the poet Alice Notley called … Continue reading
© 2010 Don Yorty. All rights reserved.
A poem in English written by someone whose first language isn’t English is often very beautiful with other skin over its bones. Like many of my students in China, Nicolas is a scientist. He’s going to Paris soon to … Continue reading
© 2010 Don Yorty. All rights reserved.
… This little poem with the fewest words possible says it all. … You see it raining and rushing Like beasts, and roaring You tremble at it and pray It keeps on pouring. … … Continue reading
© 2010 Don Yorty. All rights reserved.
… Today it started to rain and thunder and then it stopped. After class, puddles were everywhere as I walked to my favorite restaurant. It was closed. For good. The man keeping guard in the gutted space spoke Chinese of … Continue reading