John Sakkis: California Poets Part 11, Five Poems

John Sakkis

October 20th, 2026

California Poets: Part XI

John Sakkis

Five Poems

HUGO MUNSTERBERG

If we look 

at the crimson

sinking sun

and then

at a white wall

we do not see

red light spots,

but a green 

irradiated blob

as I apprehend it,

I imagine burning it

as an offering

to the bear

Cedar Of Lebanon 

There are monkey’s 

in the trees

in The City 

Of The Dead

they are the readers

of Dead Letters

one letter reads:

“like the orb of the sun

Cleopatra’s Needle

is withering away

isolated

on a knoll

in New York”

Ambergris and Eggs

My slumber

was deep and sweet

like the discharge

from a sperm whale’s stomach

passed like fecal matter

I stand upright

with my feet together

facing East

vibrating “Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiihhhhh”

In front of me

sat 2 baskets of figs

one blue with rot

the other

green and hard

I thought of cleaning

the rot

with my sword

but instead filled

my shirt

with the green ones,

and kept walking

the rotten figs

I took to the fire

burning them

into a fatty

ash residue

this residue

I smeared

on my ruddy cheeks

my bright

beardless cheeks

I see a pile

of stink bugs

in the shape

of a donkey

the fig tree droops

and I feel silly

for noticing it

the shadow

of a cloud

floats along

the trail

when shall I learn

to shiver and shake

when shall I learn

to be afraid

Author Bio:

John Sakkis is the author of 6 books of poetry, most recently Mirror Magic (Roof Books) and The Islands (Nightboat Books). With Angelos Sakkis, he has translated 5 books by Athenian poet Demosthenes Agrafiotis, including Maribor (The Post-Apollo Press) which won the 2011 Northern California Book Award for Poetry In Translation. He was born and raised and lives in the East Bay Area.