Projects

My poems are widely published and anthologized. Since 1996, I performed lyric poetry with live music—with guitarist Bill Horvitz (1996-2003) and Peter Whitehead (2004-present) and many other musicians—at political benefits, environmental forums, festivals, and clubs, (sharing stages with L. Ferlinghetti, G. Snyder, Kay Ryan, Bob Holman, etc.): at The San Francisco International Arts Festival; Watershed Poetry Festival; NY Open Center; Tuolumne Poetry Festival; Schamrock Festival, Munich; Poetry on the Lake, Italy; Carmel Performing Arts Festival; Meet the Beat San Francisco; Jack Hirschman's Poetry Series and many other poetry series. Poetic texts became theatrical performances with music and video elements at NOH Theater, San Francisco; Across the Divide, Point Reyes, CA; and in Italy. Small Craft Advisories was performed in many venues from 1996 to 2003.

I perform infrequently now. In 2019, before Covid cancellations, The Penelope Poems was presented with musicians Peter Whitehead and Julia Norton, and poet Maya Khosla at The Sitting Room in Cotati, CA, and at the San Francisco Commonwealth Club with podcast on their website.

Ibn Hamdis Lament of The Refugee: Poetry Translation Project—with Muqdad Farrajullah (Iraqi-American)—Sicilian- Arabic Poetry from the 1840s to1000s; this an ongoing project, presented in Italy as part of "100 Thousand Poets for Change" and at Jack Hirschman’s series in San Francisco with Palestinian musicians.

Project Director: Voice of the River a geography-based art and literary project focused on the Petaluma River, involving 80 members of the community, for The City of Petaluma, with a grant from the National Park Service.

Terra Amata: An “invited poem”, a collection of remembered places told to me by Europeans, Americans, African and Syrian immigrants, and other travelers. Performance piece presented in Italian in Siracusa's Contemporary Art Museum: 40 Italian actors speaking a collaged remembrance of Beloved Earth. Directed by Michele Dell’Utri, with Doriana La Fauci and Attilo Ierna of INDA, Italian National Institute of Ancient Drama.

Margini di un Atrove: a project of the University Woman of Europe and Fildis. A commission to write a suite of poem on Greek tragic heroines, coinciding with performances in Siracusa's Ancient Greek Theater; performance in Italian by three actors from Italian National Academy of Ancient Theater; book published with Greek National Poet and artist

Small Craft Advisories: Spoken word performance with original visuals and video projection. Performed at many venues, including Carmel Performing Arts Festival, Tuolumne Poetry Festival, New York Open Center, Meet the Beat San Francisco, 1998-2001. Also translated/adapted (Italian) and performed as Avvisso ai Naviganti at Ortigiafest Theater Festival, Siracusa, Italy, 2007, with actor Enzo Alaimo, live music, and dancer.

The Loom and the Ship Homer's Odyssey from Penelope's point of view. Original poetic script, spoken word performance, and image projections. With actors, four woman koros, and world musician Vince Delgado. Noh Space Theater, San Francisco, 2010. Will present again for Humanities West, S.F., 2019.