anon says

"John Sakkis, have you looked at your blog lately? Talk about strange behavior."

so long, see you in a month or so...

Things I Did With Julia Yesterday or, Playing House "in a good way"

slept in and then slept in and then slept in

vintage clothes window shopping on Pierce

food eating at Squat & Gobble on Fillmore and Haight/ she had Poached Eggs and Spinich i had Chicken Salad sandwich and mini green salad

stop by D-Structure to say hello to Azikiwee

stroll along Waller for the sake of strolling along a street other than Haight

look at the houses

fruit shopping

"you just bought more fruit for the next 3 days than i buy in a month..."

go look at Dungeons and Dragons crap at Gamescape on Divis...holding up a book with a huge titted vampire on it Julia says "who do you think they're catering to?"

stop by 5 Star Truffles and Coffee for truffles...my favorite Espresso, her favorite Cream de Menthe...we buy (she buys) 20.

stop by boutique jewerly/clothes store where this feather piece was purchased


retrace route back down Waller stop by Bean There for coffee and sitting

we sit and coffee and talk to the birds and eat truffles

to the record store for recored digging

grab a Vice and leave

head to the liquor store for wine

her head buried in magazine i have to grab her jacket and steer as we walk

head home

open wine and read more magazine and look at her sister's wedding photos (ha!)

listen to music

head to the stoop for stoop wine drinking

she says "i'll break up with you if you don't like Barefoot In The Park" i say "awwww, that's so sweet..."

head back inside for dinner, she has leftover Fog City mac and cheese and cheese biscuit, i have some of my roommates leftover polenta and red sauce.

cook dinner and eat dinner and drink more wine

she orders 2 episodes of Gossip Girl off i-tunes, the season finale and the episode leading up to the season finale...some commentary: i liked both episodes, and granted i'm very new to Gossip Girl, but i couldn't help feeling like they wrapped up the whole Georgina/Sara sub-plot WAY to quickly/cutely...oh and also, why does Serena's ex-boyfriend's Dad (i don't know the names of most of these characters yet) give a shit about Serena's mom? i get the whole "they used to be lovers when they were young and her mom made her make a choice/ trust fund or rocker boyfriend and she chose trust fund" thing...but she sucks! she's rich, she's old, she has her trust fund yet she still chooses to marry Mr. Tancock robot dude instead of her true love, rocker dad guy...and it's not like rocker dad dude is a shlub...he's a goddamn famous musician...VH1 did a special on his band (what are they called again, "Phoenix Park" or something like that?)...i mean, he's a celebrity, seems like he would fit into her uppity little socialite world pretty well...he's a nice guy gorgeous celebrity rocker dad with an amazing mansion of an apartment in Brooklyn and i'm supposed to believe he embodies "the other side of the tracks"?...yeeesh, yeah right...short story long, i don't like Serena's mom, i'm not sure why anybody else would either...she's a money grubbing stuck up yatch who deserves nothing but the worst in life...on the other hand, gorgeous nice guy famous celebrity rocker dad dude needs to check himself before he wrecks himself with his pathetic (obvs "recapture my youth" projection) pining over the dried out celebutant golddigger, and how...and how come every actor on that show looks like some other more famous actor...doppelgangers everywhere, let's count a few...there's a Juliana Margolis doppel, a Josh Hartnett doppel, a Kate Hudson doppel, a the guy who played Robocop doppel, a Stuart Townsend doppel, a Rachel Bilson doppel et al. anyway, i like the show, it's fun, i like my girlfriend, she's fun, i'll watch it with Julia whenever she wants.

listened to more music and went to bed

tonight at D-Structure...

EVERYDAY EVERYDAY

Caitlin "i'm on shrooms!!!" Everyday is back!

my little brother is 26 years old!!!

yesterday!!! eh hem...

tonight...

we double date to the Dizzee Rascal/ El-P/ Busdriver show at 1015 Folsom.

day off tomorrow, Julia is in serious back pain and is whimpering as i type this, Emma called me "big brother" which warms my heart, James is no longer drunk, i'm harboring some serious Moroccan food in my fridge, 1015 Folsom is trying to make itself over into a live music venue, Athens is so close i can smell her salty armpits (and they smell good), i'm writing letters to the people i care about and eating lots of fish.

this is going to be a good day good night good month.

tonight!

BOTH BOTH W/ JULIAN BROLASKI, TRACY GRINNELL AND LAUREN KOHNE

7PM 415 PIERCE ST. (BETWEEN OAK AND FELL)

BHANU KAPIL writes me a letter...

"Merk, alumnus of Naropa proper, you are a baby...Baby-skate. I re-name you in the name of all subterfuge, distance, pleasure, and, of course, every childhood known to man -- every record of 1985 in existence. Now I am talking smack. Hey Baby-skate, hey Happiness Incarnate, ciao."

i love Bhanu, having a conversation with Bhanu is about as liminal as you can get...she'll be talking about tea and mean Frankenstein (and neither), she'll be talking about astronauts but mean New York City (but also astronauts), she'll be walking around the room asking you to remember the first time you wanted to be a 4-dimensional creature and then she'll ask you to open your mouth and she'll pour a bunch of sugar in it. Bhanu is all sincerity and curiosity and that's what's so wonderufl about her, there's not an ounce of "being like this for the sake of that"...Bhanu is kind of the beat...i miss Bhanu and how she says "Love Land" instead of "Loveland"...she says "at my house in Love Land just outside Boulder"...and then she went and called me "Baby-skate"!!! BHANU has a blog by which i mean, Bhanu is sitting at a picnic table at Naropa reciting the lyrics to M.I.A.'s "Hombre" to no one in particular.

BOTH BOTH READING SNEAK PREVIEW

great news relayed in pictograms...

can you break the code?

pictogram decoding = Ugly Duckling Presse has accepted me and Angelos's translation of Demosthenes Agrafiotis's Chinese Notebook for publication (2009)...you can imagine i'm elated, you can imagine i'm happy, yeah? well, i'm freaking elated, i'm freaking happy...extremely satisfied to see Demosthenes's work getting on its way to American readers through a press like UDP...huzzah! and opa! and good tidings! and hyphy!

CA CONRAD reviews RUDE GIRL (Duration Press) on Phillysound

What a strange and beautiful book. If this is Ophelia of Hamlet's Ophelia, she has new songs, new life. She rises out of her drowning. The voices, especially of Ophelia and Ophelio are sometimes different genders of the same body, but maybe that's me seeing what's not there. What's marvelous is that Sakkis's sublime, sensual minimalism gives the reader a lot of room to be in the poem, which is why I shouldn't say much more than that. Say less, is what I should do. But I like the play off of RUDE BOY, the edgy delinquents, feeling their way in the world THEIR WAY!


This book is FREE (note that it's a PDF) so there's no reason to not read it NOW! Here's a favorite passage of mine from the voice of Ophelio:

I could Love
only a quarantine
of dialects
to the station
thin and cold surface
have their way
as if a wire
above the water
glancing back

To download the PDF, click HERE, PDF on the DURATION PRESS website. It would be GREAT to see this performed! But if I were directing it Ophelio would be a drag queen dressed in patent leather from head to toe. And a strawberry wig, not curly.

CAConrad

Gigantes...

Giants game last night with Julia highlights:

1. the seats, behind third base, amazing c/o Delta Dental.

2. the taunt, "hey Carlos Lee!!! my girlfriend thinks you have a nice ass!!! i think you fucking suck!!!"

3. the distraction, Julia excitedly saying "oooh...look at the birds!!!" as the Giants get a hit. this would become a theme.

4. the profanity, Julia has a potty mouth.

5. the food, a bag of stale, spicy lima beans that i bought from the corner store before the game...me: here try one, they're not that spicy, they taste like beans...Julia: they taste like stale...

6. the theme, Julia looks away, we get some offense.

7. the crush, Julia really digs Freddy Lewis

8. the nicknames, Julia being throughly unimpressed with my nicknames, e.g., John "Take A" Bowker, Bengie "The Pup" Molina, Randy "The Situation" Winn, Barry "Bodhisatva" Zito et. al.

it was a great night...hooray. Giants lost. boo.

remembering Zane, RIP brother...

i'm going to go see Zito pitch tonight, your mom and the guys/girls are going to the park today to throw the ball around...thinking of you always.

i'm sorry but...

am i the only one that thinks Speed Racer looks incredibly stupid? and if not incredibly stupid than at least extremely irrelevant? my God Hollywood...

BOTH BOTH READING SERIES on FRIDAY MAY 16th @ 7pm...

BOTH BOTH means LOVE...

i'm very excited to be bi-coastally (all the way from Brooklyn) hosting Julian Brolaski and Tracy Grinnell for the next BOTH BOTH (5/16/7pm). i'm also San Franpsychotically stoked to announce that local SF hero, Lauren Kohne, will be gracing the walls of my apartment with new art works/ installation.

this BOTH BOTH is the magazine issue...just like the old print format; 2 writers/ 1 artist

per usual some cans-o-beer will be provided but please bring your own liquor of your choice. and per usual snacks will not be provided (the economy!) so bring your brown bag lunch if you want to eat.

w/

Julian T. Brolaski is the author of the chapbooks Letters to Hank
Williams (True West Press, 2003), The Daily Usonian (Atticus/Finch
2004), Madame Bovary's Diary (Cy Press 2005) (under the name Tanya
Brolaski). Brolaski lives in Brooklyn where zie is an editor at
Litmus Press and writing zir dissertation on rhyme and the poetics of
authority in medieval, Renaissance and Apache poetries.


E. Tracy Grinnell is the author of Some Clear Souvenir (O Books 2006) and Music or Forgetting (O Books 2001), as well as the limited edition chapbooks Leukadia (Trafficker Prees forthcoming 2008), Quadriga, a collaboration with Paul Foster Johnson (gong chapbooks 2006), Of the Frame (Portable Press at Yo-Yo Labs 2004), and Harmonics (Melodeon Poetry Systems 2000). She lives in Brooklyn, New York, where she teaches writing and edits Litmus Press and the journal Aufgabe.

San Francisco based artist Lauren Kohne creates sculptural art-pieces. She investigates social structures, habits and standards through materiality in bookmaking, painting, mixed and multi media pieces. Her work has been shown in Portland, San Francisco and Los Angeles as well as published in various poetry chap books.

press release for this year's Paros Symposium...

(Tiff Dressen and Demosthenes Agrafiotis at the 07' Symposium)


i leave for Greece in 20 days!

This year, 2008, The Paros Symposium is co-organized
by Greek poets Liana Sakelliou and Siarita Kouka, and
U.S. poets Susan Gevirtz and John Sakkis. It will run
from June 23 --June 29th at The House of Literature in
the village of Lefkes. Evening readings and events are
open to the public. They will begin at 7 or 7:30pm. A
schedule with descriptions and exact times will be
posted on the bulletin board at the entrance to The
House on the evening of the 23rd.

Some background:
The first meeting of the Paros Symposium was held in
2004 on the island of Paros. In 2005 we were
privileged to hold the Symposium at the EKEMEL
sponsored House of Literature, in the village of
Lefkes,again on Paros. In 2006 and 2007 we had the
repeat honor of convening at The House of Literature.
Typically, in the mornings participants break into
small groups to translate one another’s poetry. In the
evenings we have roundtable discussions about
questions that arise from the morning sessions, about
the cultural contexts of our approaches to poetry and
translation, or the invited participants give poetry
readings. The roundtable discussions and poetry
readings are open to the public. While the above
outlines the general shape of the Symposium, Greek
poet Siarita Kouka and U.S. poet Susan Gevirtz, the
original co-founders, intend The Symposium to be a
catalyst for the surprising and generative
interactions that are the most important outcomes of
such a gathering."

OMG! officially one of my favorites...

i was smiling-crying for the entire two hours...

BARR...

is playing in SF on friday...anybody want to mash?

May 9 2008 Luggage Store with Urxed and Soft Circle San Francisco, California

...

i hate when i can't tell if i'm smelling B.O. or Chinese food...my nose doesn't know what to do.

3 photos from the Antique Road Show D-Structure party...

me and Julia, and then my cousin Julia (just back from a 6 month sojourn in Sur America), and then me and Julia redux...

go to D-Structure's Flickr for more photos...

poet/poet doppelganger thingy...

more like,

Logan Ryan Smith


and

John Sakkis

celebrity/poet doppelganger thingy...

if you care for me or my feelings say "no, def. not..."

Judge Reinhold


and

John Sakkis

It's official...

Ben & Jerry's Cake Batter ice cream could use more chocolate frosting swirls. Seriously, I just got through a really intense hour of Gossip Girl (Jenny's BF is gay? OMG!), and the last thing I need is for my sweets cravings to go unsatisfied. Ben & Jerry should have given this potential situation a good deal more thought, in my opinion.

alert...

Julia Lamont will now be guest blogging here and there, now and then...so, if you see a blog post about karoake, political philosophy, Forever 21 shopping sprees, Gene Kelly (or musicals in general), whiskey and gingerales, Santa Cruz, vintage clothing, Robert Creeley, Gossip Girl, animals animals animals, tickling, baseball, haircuts, ice cream, Tendernob, restaurants, horses, VHS, mixtapes, dancing and horses again, it just might be her.

this is my girlfriend and she enjoys stuff...

Karaoke for Beginners, Rule #1

It might sound counter-intuitive, since these are the songs that drunk bros and karaoke newbies invariably WANT to sing, but these are three songs that should never, under any circumstances, be sung at a karaoke bar ever again.

1. Journey's "Don't Stop Believing"
2. Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse of the Heart"
3. Bon Jovi's "Livin' on a Prayer"

I'm serious. You might think you're being ballsy and/or novel and/or entertaining, but you might also be wrong.

it's going to be a Hot Whiskey vs. I Invented Flarf kind of day...

tonight this is where i'll be with my friends...

ANTIQUE ROAD SHOW OPENING @ D-STRUCTURE (FILLMORE AND HAIGHT)

if you've never been to a D-Structure opening/party, they're kind of the best thing going on in the Lower Haight...

...