POEMS

“Event Horizon” appears in Dusie 15 (Dusie Press, 2014)

“Heliotropes” appears in Switchback Issue 13: Intuition vs. Logic (USF, 2011)

“Under Breath” & “Wood Light” appear in Vallum 8:1: Futures (2010)

“9 Rooms Including 0,” an ekphrastic poem responding to Bill Viola’s 1999 art/video exhibition at SFMOMA, was published in Switchback Issue 7, volume 4 (USF, 2008).

“Metacenter, First Movement: 5 Praxes“ appears in Midway Journal Winter Issue 2 (Midway, 2007)

“Talisman” appears in Snow, a screenplay by Julie Gesin, finalist for the 2001 Showcase Screenwriting Awards (2002)

“Having Arrived at a Distance Between Heart and Head” & “Liminal: 8 Possible Lyrics” were published in Fourteen Hills: The SFSU Review, Vol. 7.2 (Fourteen Hills Press, 2001)

Collaboration: Through My Eyes, a MFA thesis film by Laurence Mazouni; contributed poetry that was incorporated into the film’s narrative (SFSU, 2001)

“What I Saw in the Water, after the painting by Frida Kahlo” & “Hieroglyph” were published in Transfer 79 (SFSU, 2000)

A Faustian Collection: contributed poems to the (former) NEXA Program (Science & Humanities) student website, at SFSU, for the course: “A Demonic Pact: The Faust Myth in Music & Literature” (SFSU, 1999)

“Amethyst” and “A Crossing” were published in Lady in the Lake (SFSU, 1999)

Somewhere Else, features “Whale Song,” a poetry zine collaboration with poet/cover artist Julie Gesin (1993)

REVIEWS

Lizard by Sarah Rosenthal (Chax Press) in Tarpaulin Sky (2017):

“…and while reading I appreciated and celebrated Rosenthal’s surfacing experimental poetics: playing with pronouns and stirring up multi-narratives inside her lyric, all while claiming that her poetry ‘is / not a magic act.’ Rather, the poet, via documentary, observation, and dream, tries her (Lizard) on now and then ‘in our / leathery skins,’ coexisting with her creation – her poetry.”

“The earth angel, sorting time“: Orphan Machines by Carrie Hunter (Black Radish Books) in Jacket2 (2017):

“Living in a time where capitalism comes under scope and its ideology is questioned as a systematic way of life, Orphan Machines is timely and spot-on in its wondering whether or not we should be ‘real’ or ‘fake’ in an artificial and duplicitous capitalist society. Staring into our many screens, what does ‘normalcy’ mean anymore with our daily, sometimes obsessive, indulgence in social media? Is the internet today’s ‘real’ social rhizome? And what is having an ‘open privacy’ (25)? Posting private things publicly online?”

“Nostos — returning home to the self“: daryl hall is my boyfriend by erica lewis (Barrelhouse Books) in Jacket2 (2016):

“Memory is a ‘mouthful of bees’ (18) buzzing through the mind at thunderclap speed; ‘childhood glitters’ (55) — in which ‘childhood meant the world was piling up’ (54) — and young adult recollection collide with present adult perspective. lewis shows us how the mind operates, moving from past to present, fine-tuning the ‘white noise’ (39) static of time, ‘and once you admit time past is [actually]    infinite / being a child gradually fades away.'”

“Song is remedy for loss“: Songs from the Astral Bestiary by Tiff Dressen (lyric&press) in Jacket2 (2015):

“Tiff Dressen devises her own abaton made of poetry, taking her reader on a lyrical journey via the dreamscape where song is remedy for loss. Staring into the rich mulberry blue, gold, amber, green (and other colors in-between I can’t find names for) brushstrokes of Fran Herndon’s Triangles, the cover art, the reader is transported to a world half here, half there, and by the end of the collection realizes that s/he came to ‘harvest’ light too as that ‘animal / in whom nothing is lost’ (52) found in dream.”

“Green Roots Pulsing in Concrete“: Gorgeous Mourning by Alice Jones (Apogee Press) in Boog City 26 (2005):

“Jones, a poet with green roots pulsing in a concrete society, seems to be absorbed by her locale — it feeds and informs her work. With ‘wisps of fog coming in over the hazy headlands,’ the reader is placed on a pine branch right next to Jones, somewhere on a foothill in the East Bay. Like watchful owls eyeing their immediate environs, we, with Jones’ guidance, wonder, embrace, question, despise, stomp, and resurrect this joyful, mournful, and intricate encasing called life.”

“A Sort of Homecoming“: Within the Margin by Truong Tran (Apogee Press) in Boog City 22 (2005):

“…in his new book, Within the Margin, Tran engages a self-conscious narrator exploring origins and identities (Vietnamese, American, gay, poet, hero, son, brother, mother, father). Language, etymology, family history, and time haunt and thrill the “awkward kid” whose adult voice investigates the intersection of his biographical past and present. ‘Home’ is memory and Tran finds himself there again within his comfort zone…”

“A Sonic Geiger Counter“: Around Sea by Brenda Iijima (O Books) in Boog City 17 (2004):

“Iijima orchestrates terrain after cleverly crafted terrain spanning the Atlantic, Seychelles, the Bering Straits, the Cape of Good Hope, Ancient Egypt, Burma, Atlantis, and Outer Space. Around Sea delivers a narrator whose dialects range from the collective awe of archeological discovery to the introspective lament of technological takeover.”

“Found in Translation“: Sin Puertas Visibles: An Anthology of Contemporary Poetry by Mexican Women by Jen Hofer (University of Pittsburgh Press) in Boog City 14 (2004):

“Hofer likens translation to a ‘two-way mirror’ that simultaneously provides a view out and a view in between two cultures. ‘It is in the incongruent gap between language and language that the strangeness of understanding begins to occur,’ she writes. Readers on both sides of her literary bridge have an opportunity to read outside of their own culturally bound contexts, to discover what happens at the midway meeting point.”

“Chizu Iiyama and Noriko Bridges Flynn Poetry Center Reading“: American Poetry Archives, Vol. 15/SFSU Poetry Center (1999):

“Journalist Noriko Bridges Flynn charmed the audience with an epic poem of her life’s work, ‘To Be or Not to Be — There is No Option.’ Her poem covered vast terrain including life in the (internment) camp, being American, being Japanese, and the powerful connection to her ancestors via haiku. She reminded us of how important the idea of America was (and is) for her generation. In a humorous tale about an attempt to ‘look like Betty Grable,’ as a young Japanese-American ‘with a flat chest,’ she recalled her rebellion of transforming her falsies into pin cushions.”

EDITING

Editor-in-Chief, Transfer 78 Fall 1999 issue, Department of Creative Writing, San Francisco State University; supervised the managing, fiction, and poetry editors in the management and execution of the literary magazine.

Poetry Editor, Transfer 77 Spring 1999 issue, Department of Creative Writing, San Francisco State University; led group discussions with student editors re: contributors’ poems; and assisted contributors with final edits.

Staff Editor, Transfer 76 Fall 1998 issue, Department of Creative Writing, San Francisco State University; assisted editors in the organization and execution of the magazine, including sales and promotion.

READINGS

The Octopus Literary Salon: Octopus Cafe (RIP 2019), Oakland, CA, June 7, 2016. Book launch for Wings of Wax by Apollo Papafrangou; read from Heliotropes & poetry from Yannis Ritsos’ 3X11 Tristichs (Pella, NY NY, 1990).

At The Inkwell San Francisco Poetry Night: Alley Cat Books, SF, CA, April 18, 2016. Read original poems by Yannis Ritsos alongside poems from chapbook Heliotropes (Ypolita Press, 2017).

#Thisisacoup Greek American Writers Night #3: SAFEhouse Arts, SF, CA, August 27, 2015. Read “Event Horizon” from Heliotropes (Ypolita Press, 2017).

Evelyn Ave. Reading – Poet as Radio: Hosted by poet Susanne Dyckman, Albany, CA, October 27, 2013. Read from Heliotropes, with Poet as Radio co-hosts Jay Thomas & Delia Tramontina.

Canessa Gallery Reading Series – Poet as Radio: Curated by poet Avery Burns, Canessa Gallery, SF, CA, July 9, 2012. Read from Heliotropes.

Switchback Issue 13 Launch Party: Switchback Journal, University of San Francisco, Dog Eared Books, SF, CA, November 4, 2011. Read “Heliotropes.

Switchback Issue 12 Launch Party: Switchback Journal, University of San Francisco, Books & Bookshelves, SF, CA, 2010. In the poet’s absence, read “Mississippi Delta” & “The Other Side” by Dilruba Ahmed.

Peninsula Literary Series: Curated by Carrie Hechtman & Jean Znidarsic, Gallery House, Palo Alto, CA, May 15, 2009. Read “Under Breath” & “Wood Light,” opened for featured reader Nona Caspers.

Switchback Issue 7 Launch Party: Switchback Journal, University of San Francisco, Cantina, SF, CA, 2008. Read “9 Rooms Including 0.”

Transfer 79 Reading: Transfer Magazine, San Francisco State University, The Poetry Center, SF, CA, 2000. Read “What I Saw in the Water, after the painting by Frida Kahlo” & “Hieroglyph.”

Transfer Magazine @ SFSU Reunion Reading: Curated/hosted a poetry & fiction reading featuring some of the magazine’s past contributors, The Attic Club, one of San Francisco’s well known poet dive bars (RIP), SF, CA, 1999.

Cafe Babar Reading Series: read poems from Somewhere Else: a collaborative chapbook with featured reader Julie Gesin, Cafe Babar (RIP), SF, CA, 1994.

Exit Cafe Reading Series: read poems from Somewhere Else with Julie Gesin, Exit Cafe (RIP), SF, CA, 1992.

RADIO

Poet as Radio (PAR): (2011-2014) Co-produced/hosted, with Delia Tramontina & Jay Thomas, an online live weekly poetry show/podcast at SF Community Radio (formerly savekusf.org/KSFX) featuring interviews with local and national poets. Prepared interviews; scheduled guests; co-designed PAR logo/business card; assisted w/ promotions; maintained/contributed to PAR’s blog & Facebook page. Links to archived shows can be found here.