Poetry and Libretti
Chapbooks
Versus from the Underground
A multilogue
on capital punishment
Select poems
first published in
Literary Imagination
first published in
Capitano Review
first published in Capilano Review
first published in
Carapace
first published in Carapace
Libretti, with Yvette Christiansë
SOUTHERN CROSSINGS
In the century of discovery, of empire and emancipation, six characters confront each other with their fears and doubts about what science demands, and what it may cost them and those whose world it is about to transform.
Framed by the opening aria sung by a former slave named January, Southern Crossings is a chamber opera that takes audiences back in time, to 1836, when the famed astronomer, John Herschel and his wife, Margaret, are about to return to England from Cape Town where, two years earlier, they had hosted Charles Darwin on his return voyage on the Beagle. Darwin took inspiration from Herschel to tackle ‘the mystery of mysteries’; Herschel hoped Darwin would join his crusade for abolition. Nonetheless, the dinner was not a great success. While packing with January and Leah, whom the Herschels have manumitted and who now await their freedom in a period of mandatory apprenticeship, Margaret recalls the dinner in the dream-image of what might have been. As she does so, January and Leah have their own conversation about what they overheard that evening (tales of people abducted from Tierra del Fuego and animals they have never seen), and what they desire for a future after bondage.
CITIES OF SALT
The year is 1932. For centuries, the oasis of Wadi al-Uyoun has been home to a community of Bedouin who make their lives in the rhythm of sand and wind. 1932 will prove to be a fateful year for them. Unimagined strangers are about to
arrive. Unlike the caravans that have come and gone through generations, these strangers are coming for what lies beneath the sands and cool waters. Oil has been discovered. And the world is about to change.
Cities of Salt is a new opera loosely based on Abdelrahman Munif’s novel of the same name. Comprised of three acts, the opera is written for 12 soloists, full orchestra and large mixed chorus.
Still in development, a selection of scenes was performed in workshop form at the Linbury Theater, Covent Garden, in 2015.