SFist reader Emily Alexander sent us this brilliant poem she found on Bart car. In related news, Wilton Antonio McGlory is now SFist's unofficial poet laureate.......

Are you a poet? Do you know it? (Ouch.) Well, Poets Eleven, a citywide poetry contest showcasing prose created by residents of each of San Francisco's 11 districts, above, is now accepting submissions. You work will be scrutinized by San Francisco Poet Laureate Jack Hirschman, so snap on your thinking and creativity caps, kids. Local poets are asked to submit up to three works for review. Mr. Hirschman, we're told, is interested in pieces......

READING: Idiolexicon Poetry Series brings together different types of poets -- from slam to experimental, hip-hop and academia -- having them share a stage. Tonight, the lineup includes performances by poets Stephen Meads and Myron Michael, and music by Cynthia Weyuker. Happens tonight at the Boxcar Playhouse. COMEDY: Part of local sketch comedy troupe SPF7, Justin Lamb and Jay Starr perform tonight at Club Deluxe. MUSIC: One of the Innovators of the Bakersfield Sound,......

Those wacky comedic troupe kids over at SPF7 honor two-time Oscar-winning Yalie and secretly Sapphic actress/director Jodie Foster with "poetic poetry poems" as performed by a spot-on Foster look-alike. (Good Lord, that was a lot of hyphening. Whew.) She's no Meg Tilly or Jewel, but then again, who is? Anyway, check them out. (One more after le jump!)......

-- Salute Day of the Dead: Before tomorrow's Dia de los Muertos celebration and march, be sure to check out this pre-party featuring music from Steve Taylor-Ramírez, Theresa Perez, and Drew Harrison. Begins tonight at 9:30 p.m. at RetoxSF; $7. -- Poor White Trash II (AKA Scum of the Earth -- 1974): This Southern Gothic drama is also described as a "claustrophobic sweaty tale of a lost woman trapped by an incestuous, murderous backwoods......

A warning: Let's just assume that all of the links in this post are gloriously NSFW. We're told that the upcoming Berkeley-area show Sins Invalid is "hot activism," which sounds awesome, except that it's what, exactly? Is it "hot" like sexy, or "hot" like capri pants in 2000? We're guessing that it's a stab at sexiness, since the subtitle is "an unshamed claim to beauty in the face of invisibility" and the description is......

-- Laura Gibson: We'd hate to genre-ize her lovely sounds, but neo-folk songstress Gibson -- who uses such tools as trumpet, viola, and musical saw in addition to her sublime vocal cords-- sings delicate siren songs that will have you crashing at her feet. She performs along with Musee Mechanique (Portland) and Snowblink starting at 8 p.m. at Rickshaw Stop; $8. -- Lawrence Ferlinghetti: You know the man, the legend, the poet, the beret......

-- Augie March: Australia band, crooners of the catchy "One Crowded Hour," will be playing at 8:30 p.m. at Slim's; $15. -- The Go-Go's: Saccharine '80s LA girl rock. Gravy Train!!! opens. Music starts at 9 p.m. at the Independent; $65. -- Poetry & Pizza: D.A. Powell & Ryan Courtwright highlight this first-of-the-month poetry reading pizza party. Escape from New York Pizza, 333 Bush; benefits Larkin Street Project.......

-- Scott McCloud: Experimental and wildly popular comic artist and novelist (Making Comics) speaks tonight at "Evolution of the American Comic Book". Rory Root (owner, Comic Relief) and Andrew Farago (curator, Cartoon Art Museum) also speak. Starts at 6:30 p.m. at the Commonwealth Club, 595 Market; $7-$20. -- End of Summer Slam Jam for Teens: Are there words prettier than "back to school"? Maybe. But when we start seeing back-to-school commercials and such, we......

-- 756. [SFist for links] -- Bonds' ball chasers. [Chron, The Snitch] -- Steve Jobs' pretty new iMacs and more. [eWEEK, Chron] -- Schwarzenegger forces the fuzz to patrol more Oakland streets. [Chron] -- Lights Out wants to dim SF's lights for an hour to neck, or write poetry with a plume pen, or...something. [Examiner] -- Half Moon Bay soccer team busted for "looking for love in all the wrong places." [CBS 5] Image:......

-- Greg Behrendt: SF-native, author of He's Just Not That into You (comfortingly known to many a confused single gal as a symptom of Peter-Pan Syndrome), and comedian takes a break from his talk show to make you snicker/slap your knee. The sheer hilarity starts at 8 p.m. at Cobb’s Comedy Club, 915 Columbus; tickets are $25. -- Blur, "Transgender & Gender Variant" Support Group: Pretty much what it says right there; a good place......

Prolific, ornery, talented, unpredictable, easy on the eyes, genius, bastard - there are many ways to try and describe Ryan Adams, but at this point if you've heard of him, you've probably formed some sort of opinion. In his new single "Two" he sings: "I got a really good heart, I just can't catch a break." Whether or not you buy that, we're still loving his new CD. Easy Tiger is built on the......

-- Writers With Drinks not only boasts an awesome substance-abuse party, but overlaps it with readings from some of your favorite local and national (that is to say, usually New York City- or LA-based) scribes and novelists. Who knew writers like to drink? But brace yourselves for tonight's edition: an "honest" look at the (dying? dead? necessary?) state of print publishing. Such inky icons as Ben Fong-Torres (from Rolling Stone), Lynn Peril (publisher of......

Who ya got? The cowboy or the samurai? That's the question posed by the Asian-American Theater Company's Cowboy v. Samurai, a story about two Asian-American cowboys in Montana who fall in love with the same Korean-American new girl in town. Our Gothamist cousins liked it when it played in New York. 2 p.m. at the Thick House (1695 18th Street, x Arkansas), $20. Other events: --The workers united -- have a whole month to celebrate!......

We don't say this lightly, because there are really a lot of great artists coming out of the Bay Area, but we do have a current favorite: Birds & Batteries. We've been telling you about this co-ed quartet for a little while now, and our expectations for their new record were really high. Thankfully it's good news: we love I'll Never Sleep Again. It's still the B&B we met on their last release, but this......

A photo of San Francisco's new bandshell under construction in Golden Gate Park....

--CounterPULSE is hosting Paint Out!, a breast cancer fundraiser with comedians, slam poetry, and women getting their chests painted ($50 mininum donation to get painted). 3:30-7:30, $25, 1310 Mission St. (x 9th). --It's the last day of the Queer Women of Color Film Fest at the Brava Theater (2781 24th St., x York). Today's program: Short documentary showcase at 3 p.m. and love stories at 7 p.m. Free. --Bzzzzzzzz -- it's also the last......

Week Around The -Ists...

It's Sunset Magazine's Celebration Weekend! (For some reason, Sunset Magazine sent this event to our sister site Phillyist instead of us, and Phillyist was kind enough to forward it along.) Stop by their "publishing grounds" at 80 Willow Road in Menlo Park from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. for a smorsgasbord of Western-lifestyle events, like live music, cooking events with celeb chefs like Paul Bertolli, a home tour, and -- the main reason why we're......

SFist interviews David and Edie Ichioka, makers of the documetnary "Murch" about film editor Walter Murch, now showing at the San Franicsco International Film festival ...

It's almost the end of April and we didn't even realize it was National Poetry Month! We're going to make it up to everyone by passing along tonight's Poems Under The Dome event. Poems Under The Dome is an open-mic poetry event in the big reception area of the SF City Hall and sponsored by the city -- show up and read whatever poem you'd like! (One poem per reader, time limits will be......

Total number of people pictured in this week's Swells society column: 47. (We almost counted the mannequin at your right!) Number of people pictured whom we recognize: 3. Minority count: 2 (4.2%). Hats, capes, tiaras: 5, 0, 0. Getty v. Traina: 1-2 (Gavin for Team G and Dede for Team T). Amount of money it'll cost you to attend the SF International Poetry Festival this summer: 0! Poet Laureate Jack Hirschman, a Marxist, says poetry......

It's more than just Heart and Soul: the Berkeley Arts Festival presents an evening of four-hand piano pieces, composed by beloved local minimalist Terry Riley, and performed by Joseph Kubera and Berkeley radio host/pianist Sarah Cahill. 8 p.m., $10-20 sliding scale, at the temporary Berkeley Arts Festival location, which is the Fidelity Bank Building at 2323 Shattuck (x Bancroft). Other events: --A talk at the SF Main Public Library on "How to Listen to......

Spring is when we get busy here in the Ist-A-Verse. Very busy. But, after staying bundled-up indoors all winter, it's nice for us to be out, about, and collecting things to write about for you. Here's a glimpse at what's been keeping your favorite citybloggers busily away from home and out of bed. For LAist, strong winds attacked LA on the same day the Feds raided the Crips. Not to fear, though: the Japanese version......

Last month's winner, San Francisco Magazine: Cover: Spring '07 Style Forecast. Is it just us, or does the model on the cover look a whole lot like Carmen Electra? Sadly, it's not, but we love the orange Prada dress she's sporting. Short Stories: spring's super-short dresses are fabulous, and inspire us to do more squats. (But we think we'll stick to knee-length, because the world has seen enough hoo ha lately to last a lifetime.) href="http://sanfranmag.com/home/view_story/1534">Deconstructing Eco-chic: Tips on how to dress green, and still look good. Style Counsel: An interview with Mellisa Ceria, the founder of ShareYourLook.com, a personal style website for anybody too shy to ask a stranger, "Cute bag. Where did you get it?" Not that anybody ever asks us that every day. ...

It was poetry in motion out there in Stage 3 of the Amgen Tour of California, like a ragged stream of consciousness.

Hills, . . . hills-hills mark the stage most crucial to date, elevation profile like an EKG.

Under the merciless stare of giant windmills stoic 17 riders breaking away BEWARE! the false summit of Patterson Pass, Van de Walle caught out as Peterson's debt to William Frischkorn grows. Over the top jersey stuffing newspapers, protection against the windy descent.

SFist interviews Get Mortified's Scott Lifton...

First Viacom didn't want their stuff on YouTube. Then they did. Now, once again, they don't. So some poor schmos at YouTube are looking at missing the Super Bowl as they have to pull clips from Viacom shows. The guesstimate for the amount of clips on there is about 100,000. ...

There's probably nothing funnier than someone doing something slightly silly and then saying, "it's not funny." Suddenly, through denial, their minor foible becomes highlarious. So if you're determined to doing something that's serious but weird, you can either embrace the comedy, and titter along with everyone else, or pretend that you're too serious to notice, and then watch as the minor titters turn into gigantic heaving breaths. "Amerikan Freak," by John Leekley, Ahmet Zappa......

Local Comedian, Heather Gold of I Look Like An Egg, but I Identify As A Cookie fame will be at the Jewish Community Center of SF (3200 California St at Presidio) tonight with Outside In: hacking, pranking and prison-braking, an interactive talk show that's being compared to This American Life in real-time. Guests: Corporate hacker and hacking fan Bradley Horowitz (Creator of Yahoo Hack Day, VP of Product Strategy, acquirer of flickr, upcoming.org), undercover satirist......