John Sakkis's Blog
February 2, 2021
Mirror Magic
hello, I have a new book out on Roof called Mirror Magic,
if you're so inclined you can order a copy from SPD
or
Amazon
if you'd like to REVIEW the book please email me at john.sakkis@gmail.com and I'll get you a copy,
John Sakkis’ Mirror Magic offers us the riotous in the fullest sense of the word: rife with quick-wit and biting humor, these pages also riot against an ever-crumbling present as it dissolves a future teetering on the cusp of fantastical and apocalyptic; “I tic toc my minutes / NIMBY pansies get butterflies / ‘shadow pollution’ kills birds / so rents go up and over /you laugh at the needles /that stick to your meddling.”\” Bounding through space in Nike shoes, the tragi-comedy of the neoliberal state escalates as “ambition gets complicated” and muddies our horizons. Through Sakkis’ verses we live in a dynamic zone “floating and falling / and floating” in the overlapping absurdity and truth where still he leisurely and militantly demands more. From Vegas, to Californian ecosystems, to UFOs, the moon and beyond, the blossoming of childhood magic collides with adulthood’s brutal realism, daring to hone our critical apparatus and dream harder.
and from the backcover of the book:
"Irresistible and ebullient as your Saturday plans look midweek, John Sakkis’ Mirror Magic is a reflective and necromantic gathering that gives back what it asks of a day lived both online and off the wall: “please leave/this sweet light/and render me/phosphorescent tubeway splatter genome.” Sakkis’ spunky challenge to the popular poetics of our time (stuffed armor or ardor) make me wonder what Cocteau might be up to in the 21st Century; maybe directing straight-to-VHS skater videos, scanning the Bay’s convex parking bumpers for the myth of the perfect ollie. “’The millennium’ is a confusing term/and you are a headless oracle mumbling/‘this generation shall not pass/directly or indirectly/into the abyss’.” With grime and pop and savvy, these poems’ tricks grind along the silver internet’s omnipresences, a gleaming cube of instruction and wise-assed possibility. Enter here, into Sakkis’ “kinky time warp,” a humid mirror where humor and found magic are the blades for the body to open through.
–Andrew Peterson
Mirror Magic’s poems live simultaneously in uncomfortable realities and joy, gathering snippets of experience as if they were wildflower bouquets for detonating in language like miniature fireworks. Violence and violence collide. Violence and exaltation collide. Sometimes you get burned. Sometimes you get to take a bath. This bad boy is full of life.
–Eleni Sikelianos"
if you're so inclined you can order a copy from SPD
or
Amazon
if you'd like to REVIEW the book please email me at john.sakkis@gmail.com and I'll get you a copy,
John Sakkis’ Mirror Magic offers us the riotous in the fullest sense of the word: rife with quick-wit and biting humor, these pages also riot against an ever-crumbling present as it dissolves a future teetering on the cusp of fantastical and apocalyptic; “I tic toc my minutes / NIMBY pansies get butterflies / ‘shadow pollution’ kills birds / so rents go up and over /you laugh at the needles /that stick to your meddling.”\” Bounding through space in Nike shoes, the tragi-comedy of the neoliberal state escalates as “ambition gets complicated” and muddies our horizons. Through Sakkis’ verses we live in a dynamic zone “floating and falling / and floating” in the overlapping absurdity and truth where still he leisurely and militantly demands more. From Vegas, to Californian ecosystems, to UFOs, the moon and beyond, the blossoming of childhood magic collides with adulthood’s brutal realism, daring to hone our critical apparatus and dream harder.
and from the backcover of the book:
"Irresistible and ebullient as your Saturday plans look midweek, John Sakkis’ Mirror Magic is a reflective and necromantic gathering that gives back what it asks of a day lived both online and off the wall: “please leave/this sweet light/and render me/phosphorescent tubeway splatter genome.” Sakkis’ spunky challenge to the popular poetics of our time (stuffed armor or ardor) make me wonder what Cocteau might be up to in the 21st Century; maybe directing straight-to-VHS skater videos, scanning the Bay’s convex parking bumpers for the myth of the perfect ollie. “’The millennium’ is a confusing term/and you are a headless oracle mumbling/‘this generation shall not pass/directly or indirectly/into the abyss’.” With grime and pop and savvy, these poems’ tricks grind along the silver internet’s omnipresences, a gleaming cube of instruction and wise-assed possibility. Enter here, into Sakkis’ “kinky time warp,” a humid mirror where humor and found magic are the blades for the body to open through.
–Andrew Peterson
Mirror Magic’s poems live simultaneously in uncomfortable realities and joy, gathering snippets of experience as if they were wildflower bouquets for detonating in language like miniature fireworks. Violence and violence collide. Violence and exaltation collide. Sometimes you get burned. Sometimes you get to take a bath. This bad boy is full of life.
–Eleni Sikelianos"
October 18, 2009
my first length, Rude Girl, just out from BlazeVox! (repost, just received more copies...)
Dear Family, Friends, Poets, Teachers, Beauties, Pundits, Parents,
Kind of stoked today because my first full-length book, Rude Girl, has just arrived from the printer! Whoopie! Wanted to let those near and dear to my heart hear about it.
The book is published by BlazeVox Books out of Buffalo, NY. She weighs in at a svelte 82 pages with a gorgeous cover photo by Ian Whitmore. I'm selling copies through Paypal right now. If you're so inclined (and thanks so much!) you can order a copy by heading over to my blog www.bothbothseries.blogspot.com and clicking on the "Buy Now" button found at the top right side of the page. I know money is tight for just about everybody right now so I'm pricing the book a few dollars cheaper than what the press is asking for. So at $12 dollars even-Steven (shipping included in price) you can order Rude Girl directly from me. I think it's a pretty good deal, maybe you do too? Sweet...
So thanks so much for your support and guidance and love...means the world to me. I hope you have a wonderful day, looks like the sun is coming out in San Francisco, I'm wearing my favorite pair of jeans and my favorite orange flannel, I'm sporting a new haircut and freshly clipped nails...I'm feeling fresh and clean, I hope you are too...LOVE LOVE-John
But wait! Read what others are saying about the book!!!
In Rude Girl, light "scrime[s:]," a girl secretly "places a button under her tongue," and a tide is a "pseudonym" both for not speaking (right then) and for what comes after: the start of seeing "the things [in front of:]" (my brackets), which in fact "were always [in front of:]." There's an attention too, in John Sakkis's beautiful book, to the "frequency and occurence" with which these things happened. Are happening. Like "years or color." Loved these poems. Hope you will too.
-- Bhanu Kapil
A three-part song for the unaccompanied and at times accompanied voice(s): "a word of it / set to walk." Like a sailor with sharp knives for ears and a psaltery made maybe of skateboards in his head, Sakkis travels across time, space, meaning, rule, principle, mode, listening acutely and carving away all excess: "Whenever particles spoken / into my nerves / I hear outer voices/ and Love" --He brings us to hear it too: "peeling away hunger." Rather than write about it, all I want to do is quote this whole exquisite book whose "fatty sheets of rainbow" speak for themselves.
--Susan Gevirtz
I read Rude Girl as a Herodotean geography in that it reports the ecological and psychosocial terrains of an “other country.” The “country” in Rude Girl, however, is a landscape of broken economies: burned houses, the 1990’s, worn out coins, the shadowy “M.” (money itself? a Langian villain? whatever—an “ox by no means”). The lyricism of this book is suspended on a threshold of surplus and excess--terms which cue the melancholy of its unique version of human loss and the fragility of whoever’s left to report. This book disturbs me—it disturbs my participation in the dissipating, breakable ecologies I participate in: the woods, tunnels, streets; the “reified house” with its “barking economy.”
--Brandon Brown
Sensual but sensible, the thoughtful lyrics of Rude Girl maintain, explore and suspend meaning. They don't describe but combine -- well, okay, sometimes they describe. "the house is like business/and doesn't sing/ the air is women." Everyday life and the sublime appear “walking hand in hand.” These poems are surreal, cerebral and celebratory. They sing and swoon. Read them and weep!
--Laura Moriarty
www.bothbothseries.blogspot.com
Kind of stoked today because my first full-length book, Rude Girl, has just arrived from the printer! Whoopie! Wanted to let those near and dear to my heart hear about it.
The book is published by BlazeVox Books out of Buffalo, NY. She weighs in at a svelte 82 pages with a gorgeous cover photo by Ian Whitmore. I'm selling copies through Paypal right now. If you're so inclined (and thanks so much!) you can order a copy by heading over to my blog www.bothbothseries.blogspot.com and clicking on the "Buy Now" button found at the top right side of the page. I know money is tight for just about everybody right now so I'm pricing the book a few dollars cheaper than what the press is asking for. So at $12 dollars even-Steven (shipping included in price) you can order Rude Girl directly from me. I think it's a pretty good deal, maybe you do too? Sweet...
So thanks so much for your support and guidance and love...means the world to me. I hope you have a wonderful day, looks like the sun is coming out in San Francisco, I'm wearing my favorite pair of jeans and my favorite orange flannel, I'm sporting a new haircut and freshly clipped nails...I'm feeling fresh and clean, I hope you are too...LOVE LOVE-John
But wait! Read what others are saying about the book!!!
In Rude Girl, light "scrime[s:]," a girl secretly "places a button under her tongue," and a tide is a "pseudonym" both for not speaking (right then) and for what comes after: the start of seeing "the things [in front of:]" (my brackets), which in fact "were always [in front of:]." There's an attention too, in John Sakkis's beautiful book, to the "frequency and occurence" with which these things happened. Are happening. Like "years or color." Loved these poems. Hope you will too.
-- Bhanu Kapil
A three-part song for the unaccompanied and at times accompanied voice(s): "a word of it / set to walk." Like a sailor with sharp knives for ears and a psaltery made maybe of skateboards in his head, Sakkis travels across time, space, meaning, rule, principle, mode, listening acutely and carving away all excess: "Whenever particles spoken / into my nerves / I hear outer voices/ and Love" --He brings us to hear it too: "peeling away hunger." Rather than write about it, all I want to do is quote this whole exquisite book whose "fatty sheets of rainbow" speak for themselves.
--Susan Gevirtz
I read Rude Girl as a Herodotean geography in that it reports the ecological and psychosocial terrains of an “other country.” The “country” in Rude Girl, however, is a landscape of broken economies: burned houses, the 1990’s, worn out coins, the shadowy “M.” (money itself? a Langian villain? whatever—an “ox by no means”). The lyricism of this book is suspended on a threshold of surplus and excess--terms which cue the melancholy of its unique version of human loss and the fragility of whoever’s left to report. This book disturbs me—it disturbs my participation in the dissipating, breakable ecologies I participate in: the woods, tunnels, streets; the “reified house” with its “barking economy.”
--Brandon Brown
Sensual but sensible, the thoughtful lyrics of Rude Girl maintain, explore and suspend meaning. They don't describe but combine -- well, okay, sometimes they describe. "the house is like business/and doesn't sing/ the air is women." Everyday life and the sublime appear “walking hand in hand.” These poems are surreal, cerebral and celebratory. They sing and swoon. Read them and weep!
--Laura Moriarty
www.bothbothseries.blogspot.com
September 1, 2009
my first length, Rude Girl, just out from BlazeVox!
Dear Family, Friends, Poets, Teachers, Beauties, Pundits, Parents,
Kind of stoked today because my first full-length book, Rude Girl, has just arrived from the printer! Whoopie! Wanted to let those near and dear to my heart hear about it.
The book is published by BlazeVox Books out of Buffalo, NY. She weighs in at a svelte 82 pages with a gorgeous cover photo by Ian Whitmore. I'm selling copies through Paypal right now. If you're so inclined (and thanks so much!) you can order a copy by heading over to my blog www.bothbothseries.blogspot.com and clicking on the "Buy Now" button found at the top right side of the page. I know money is tight for just about everybody right now so I'm pricing the book a few dollars cheaper than what the press is asking for. So at $12 dollars even-Steven (shipping included in price) you can order Rude Girl directly from me. I think it's a pretty good deal, maybe you do too? Sweet...
So thanks so much for your support and guidance and love...means the world to me. I hope you have a wonderful day, looks like the sun is coming out in San Francisco, I'm wearing my favorite pair of jeans and my favorite orange flannel, I'm sporting a new haircut and freshly clipped nails...I'm feeling fresh and clean, I hope you are too...LOVE LOVE-John
But wait! Read what others are saying about the book!!!
In Rude Girl, light "scrime[s:]," a girl secretly "places a button under her tongue," and a tide is a "pseudonym" both for not speaking (right then) and for what comes after: the start of seeing "the things [in front of:]" (my brackets), which in fact "were always [in front of:]." There's an attention too, in John Sakkis's beautiful book, to the "frequency and occurence" with which these things happened. Are happening. Like "years or color." Loved these poems. Hope you will too.
-- Bhanu Kapil
A three-part song for the unaccompanied and at times accompanied voice(s): "a word of it / set to walk." Like a sailor with sharp knives for ears and a psaltery made maybe of skateboards in his head, Sakkis travels across time, space, meaning, rule, principle, mode, listening acutely and carving away all excess: "Whenever particles spoken / into my nerves / I hear outer voices/ and Love" --He brings us to hear it too: "peeling away hunger." Rather than write about it, all I want to do is quote this whole exquisite book whose "fatty sheets of rainbow" speak for themselves.
--Susan Gevirtz
I read Rude Girl as a Herodotean geography in that it reports the ecological and psychosocial terrains of an “other country.” The “country” in Rude Girl, however, is a landscape of broken economies: burned houses, the 1990’s, worn out coins, the shadowy “M.” (money itself? a Langian villain? whatever—an “ox by no means”). The lyricism of this book is suspended on a threshold of surplus and excess--terms which cue the melancholy of its unique version of human loss and the fragility of whoever’s left to report. This book disturbs me—it disturbs my participation in the dissipating, breakable ecologies I participate in: the woods, tunnels, streets; the “reified house” with its “barking economy.”
--Brandon Brown
Sensual but sensible, the thoughtful lyrics of Rude Girl maintain, explore and suspend meaning. They don't describe but combine -- well, okay, sometimes they describe. "the house is like business/and doesn't sing/ the air is women." Everyday life and the sublime appear “walking hand in hand.” These poems are surreal, cerebral and celebratory. They sing and swoon. Read them and weep!
--Laura Moriarty
www.bothbothseries.blogspot.com
Kind of stoked today because my first full-length book, Rude Girl, has just arrived from the printer! Whoopie! Wanted to let those near and dear to my heart hear about it.
The book is published by BlazeVox Books out of Buffalo, NY. She weighs in at a svelte 82 pages with a gorgeous cover photo by Ian Whitmore. I'm selling copies through Paypal right now. If you're so inclined (and thanks so much!) you can order a copy by heading over to my blog www.bothbothseries.blogspot.com and clicking on the "Buy Now" button found at the top right side of the page. I know money is tight for just about everybody right now so I'm pricing the book a few dollars cheaper than what the press is asking for. So at $12 dollars even-Steven (shipping included in price) you can order Rude Girl directly from me. I think it's a pretty good deal, maybe you do too? Sweet...
So thanks so much for your support and guidance and love...means the world to me. I hope you have a wonderful day, looks like the sun is coming out in San Francisco, I'm wearing my favorite pair of jeans and my favorite orange flannel, I'm sporting a new haircut and freshly clipped nails...I'm feeling fresh and clean, I hope you are too...LOVE LOVE-John
But wait! Read what others are saying about the book!!!
In Rude Girl, light "scrime[s:]," a girl secretly "places a button under her tongue," and a tide is a "pseudonym" both for not speaking (right then) and for what comes after: the start of seeing "the things [in front of:]" (my brackets), which in fact "were always [in front of:]." There's an attention too, in John Sakkis's beautiful book, to the "frequency and occurence" with which these things happened. Are happening. Like "years or color." Loved these poems. Hope you will too.
-- Bhanu Kapil
A three-part song for the unaccompanied and at times accompanied voice(s): "a word of it / set to walk." Like a sailor with sharp knives for ears and a psaltery made maybe of skateboards in his head, Sakkis travels across time, space, meaning, rule, principle, mode, listening acutely and carving away all excess: "Whenever particles spoken / into my nerves / I hear outer voices/ and Love" --He brings us to hear it too: "peeling away hunger." Rather than write about it, all I want to do is quote this whole exquisite book whose "fatty sheets of rainbow" speak for themselves.
--Susan Gevirtz
I read Rude Girl as a Herodotean geography in that it reports the ecological and psychosocial terrains of an “other country.” The “country” in Rude Girl, however, is a landscape of broken economies: burned houses, the 1990’s, worn out coins, the shadowy “M.” (money itself? a Langian villain? whatever—an “ox by no means”). The lyricism of this book is suspended on a threshold of surplus and excess--terms which cue the melancholy of its unique version of human loss and the fragility of whoever’s left to report. This book disturbs me—it disturbs my participation in the dissipating, breakable ecologies I participate in: the woods, tunnels, streets; the “reified house” with its “barking economy.”
--Brandon Brown
Sensual but sensible, the thoughtful lyrics of Rude Girl maintain, explore and suspend meaning. They don't describe but combine -- well, okay, sometimes they describe. "the house is like business/and doesn't sing/ the air is women." Everyday life and the sublime appear “walking hand in hand.” These poems are surreal, cerebral and celebratory. They sing and swoon. Read them and weep!
--Laura Moriarty
www.bothbothseries.blogspot.com
