Dec 18, 2007

recently read...

1. The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen Vol. 1- Alan Moore (better than the movie which was the worst but not as good as From Hell which i loved which was also better than the movie which didn't completely suck)

2. Archeology Of The Circle- Bruce Weigl (ugh for sure, lot's of Vietnam poems not done as well as Komunyaka that was worth reading only because i got some fun Cento's out of it)

3. Works and Days- Bill Luoma (thanks Brandon Brown for loaning me the best baseball/travelogue i've ever read...D. Hall suck on this and shit)

4. Moonshine #2 4 Translations of Augusto de Campos trans. Samuel Knights- i like Samuel Knights' translations of de Campos, they're pretty zany, i published some of them in Bombay Gin #32)

5. Poetray- Demosthenes Agrafiotis New Yipes Reader #23- Demo is my man so i'm biased...but, it's one of the more enjoyable New Yipes readers that i've read (i.e. no essays!)...lot's of visual work and airplanes and punk rock Demo style...if you missed his reading at NY you missed out...he fucking rocked the (ware)house...)

6. Call- Liz Waldner (i love these tiny Waldner chapbooks, whatever happend to Liz though)

7. The Best Stage Scenes For Men From The 1980's- ed. Jocelyn A. Beard (i loved it, i devoured it, i think i should write more drama, i think i'm good at dialogue, who knows, maybe i'm not, but i think i am, i think i need to write a one act for "men in the 80's")

8. Blessing The Boats New And Selected Poems - Lucile Clifton (not even close to being as bad as i thought it was going to be)

9. Tiny Side 26- Lauren Bender ( i can't really remember anything about this chapbook besides the fact that it's gorgeous and displayed in my bedroom on a bookshelf next to my window...)

10. The Four Immigrants Manga A Japanese Experience In San Francisco 1904-1924- Henry (Yoshitaka) Kiyama (one of my first SPD purchases EVER...i think my mom bought this for me when i was 19 on one of our annual trips to the warehouse where she would allot me $150 to buy whatever books i wanted...natch my mom is amazing...anyhoo, this is posibbly the first American "graphic novel"...it's a great read if only for the "comic" depictions of SF at the turn of the century...and then it teaches you stuff about the Japanese immigrant experience to boot)

11. Sulphur #1- ed. Clayton Eshelman (the best lit journal i've read in a very long time...the Olson/ Dahlberg letter correspondance is worth the price alone...i don't know, i finished the mag at 5:30 this morning, Eshelman is a genius-editor, everybody should aspire to edit like dude...fuck, makes me proud to be a poet and stuff)

12. Drill #3- ed. Michael Slosek (another dusie from the Buff (CHI?) to SF transplant...i don't know if Slosek is still putting out Drill but i'm glad to have the issues i do if he isn't...highlights for me include Shuffran, Royer and Slosek himself)

4 comments:

jerrold said...

1. loeg was a nice comic, yes...&, yes, the movie was fucking terrible...haven't seen the from hell movie...but enjoyed the comic...

11. you should also check out the caterpillar anthology (his pre-sulfur journal)...good stuff there, too...ce is a very good editor...translator, too...poet, just not my thing...

John Sakkis said...

j.,

that's the thing for me though, loeg was just "nice"...granted i only read the first installment of the graphic novel series but i was definitely underwhelmed...i guess after devouring the watchemen and then having my head blown off by From Hell i was expecting a hat trick from moore...

i really want to read his pornographic Lost Girls...the Wendy/Alice (in wonderland)/ Dorothy phantasmagoria but it only comes in a $75 box set...i've read good things about it though.

re eshelman...i found all the early issues of Sulphur at green apple a few years ago, swooped them all up, and glad i did...i'm only just now getting to them and having finished the intimidatingly thick first isue fairly quickly i'm looking forward to subsequent issues...

this morning i read stacis doris's translation of dominiqe fourcade's Everthing Happens (post apollo press)...great read, have you seen it, 2000 chapbook...

jerrold said...

that's the thing with moore, really...he can be exceptionally *underwhelming* at times...his swamp thing run was definitely great for what it was trying to do...yet the majority of his other "super-hero" stuff is beyond terrible...v for vendetta was pretty nice, too...

lost girls is an interesting book...i really think that the art outshines the writing, & should be picked up for that alone...really gorgeous stuff (if you don't mind, *ahem*, digital copies, & want to check it out, let me know...i have the hardcovers, & the art shines much better than scans...but the digital would give you an idea)...

i do have the fourcade...really enjoy his work...

John Sakkis said...

dude, i wouldn't mind digital copies AT ALL...that would be awesome, i'd love to see the thing.