Anselm Hollo, a Memorial Tribute Saturday
April 6, 4:00 pm @ CCA Graduate Writing Studio, 195 DeHaro (at 15th Street)
California College of the Arts, San Francisco

Jane Dalrymple-Hollo and Tamsin Hollo will be our honored guests

Participants to include:
Alan Bernheimer
Mary Burger
Maxine Chernoff
Brenda Coultas
Steve Dickison
Stephen Emerson
Derek Fenner
Gloria Frym
Tinker Greene
Donald Guravich
Paul Hoover
Alastair Johnston
Joanne Kyger
George Mattingly
Lucy Farber Mattingly
Sarah Menefee
Jim Nisbet
Eric Olson
Michelle Puckett
Kit Robinson
John Sakkis
Andrew Schelling

3 Failed Email Collaborations
for Ben Mirov, Julian Poirier and Chris Martin

a little nose dive down,
my posture is a yellow balloon
into and out of the bottle
this sour spittle, this
little wreckage-go-round
I can't feel my legs
licking it it sprightly, a love burn nervously fleeing
the last time I was in NYC I flooded
SFO will never be named MILK
now that blah blah "diamonds and furs..."
a WASPish widow, and the apple of my eye,
and the layover of my loutishness, my bald
balls are hung and heavy with merriment,
a ribald toast to our brattiness, cake and food
I'm a bubble wrap B-Boy, smell smell smell
say that's really swell Mr.
say you're a bottom dweller skimming Cul de Sac
clean, like a mean Reaper you give good BONE
let's play kick the can down the road/ TELEPHONE
repeat after me "my bloody gums receding"
"my buddy knows no bleeding"
"my buddy's nose knows no's"
and I really couldn't remember
your text preference whether
your outta-didact was fuzzy
and x-rated but yes, definitely
human and stiff as a stream
straightening out small tweak-
ers huffing and puffing above
me working the floor
till kingdom come   
[starts couplets]
Sparks Outrage on the internet
[starts couplets]
the Bonnie Bay Bridge of Autumn
and I really couldn't remember
your text preference whether
your outta-didact was fuzzy
and x-rated but yes, definitely
human and stiff as a stream
straightening out small tweak-
ers huffing and puffing above
me working the floor
till kingdom come  

 

 

Thursday night, 8PM

Evan Kennedy

David Brazil

Jackqueline Frost

The Hearts Desire Reading Series

Nevada City

there is no Union Hotel

which blond ass do you prefer

a vodka tonic and a burger, Burner's Equinox

no smoking in this miner's town

vegan rot gut

everyone plays guitar

Year One

I didn't like the part
where the Batman
kicked the tree
in half

Antony and the Johnsons, you're a warble monster.

Gargle spittoon on the gangways.

"Thank You For Your Love" filled me with dread.

Vibrato violence/ make up mooch/ trembling EP epitome.

I don't give a fig about wardrobe, and Joan Baez can suck a duck too.

I just ate an egg salad with gingerbread and sprinkles.

I'm going to box the mayo and chimichanga out of my pores this week.

I ended up on the ceiling again this morning.

I spent the day reading Sucker Punch reviews.

It's going to be 75degrees out tomorrow.

some new The Next Big Thing interviews from

Stephen Boyer

Susana Gardner 

Amanda Davidson

Jenn McCreary

spill a whiskey
your Jason mask is ready
and I'm falling down on the mark
at the river a water tick bit my belly
there is no HEAVEN, only bread,
you are one of them that eats their GOD
only folly, I'm praying not to doze
during the drive home, I'm feeling frisky,
static RADIO and Redwoods,
let's download the rest and get busy,
I'll visit when I'm ready
Lodge-Builder, Sun Dancer, Fire-Fighter
what tools will you get for Christmas?
I bet a sailboat and tackle, a new LOVE
the best breakfast ever sandwiched between
this regional rest, I'm sure of it, you'll do fine
now it's up to me to mark the water, build those
bridges, skip stones and cowboy up,
every year is the same, making a wish around the clock
fools gold for a fire sign, water is my woman
this conjuring stick in the mud, stop sitting down
for a second and jam out, I've never broken bread
with an automobile, this New Year's Eve resolution:
a road trip, a warm summer, back to magic baby

THE NEXT BIG THING INTERVIEW

I was tagged by Susan Gevirtz for a The Next Big Thing interview, I think I'm supposed to post this on March 14th or something? I'm going to post this right now though, cause I don't really understand the point of forward dating it if we're not aggregating and organizing on one website, and as far as I can tell, we're not. What follows is an interview with myself about my new book.

John Sakkis

What is the working title of the book?

The Islands

Where did the idea come from for the book?

Drinking warm Retsina on Paros. Google Alerts. Family history, real or imagined. THE LYRIC. The poetry of Michael Palmer, Benjamin Hollander, Jean Genet. Breakups, subcultures, friendships. “Autobiography” as bibliography. Music, the kind you listen to, Prosody, the kind you feel. The Bay Area, always the Bay Area. Oceans, bridges, nightmares/ dreams.

What genre does your book fall under?

Poetry

What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?

Animated feature in the style of Los Bros Hernandez. I imagine myself looking something like Doyle Blackburn, though as a dark brunette. “Loosely adapted” would be fine if it meant a crossover story with Luba.

What is the one sentence synopsis of your book?

A book about Greece.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?

The first draft took about a year, and then revision, revise, revised, vision.

Who or what inspired you to write this book?

See question #2

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

I like to think the book is storytelling, like a good Deep House set, or a walk around Lake Merritt, or a night of deep REM sleep with a hint of astral lucidity mixed in for good measure. I’m trying to get your head to bump with prosody, I think that’s fun.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

Nightboat Books will be publishing The Islands.

Your tagged writers for next Wednesday are:

Chris Martin, Julian Poirier, Michael Cross, Brent Cunningham, Stephen Motika, Logan Ryan Smith.

"Seeing racists under the bed is the latest manifestation of the adolescent hysteria that triggered the Salem witch trials in 1692."