As a poet, Brandi owes much to the Beat tradition, and to poets as diverse as Federico García Lorca, Pablo Neruda, and Matsuo Basho. Brandi's writing and visual art is specifically informed by his world journeys. His dozens of publications include poetry, travel essays, limited-edition letterpress books, hand-colored broadsides, and modern American haiku. He has lectured at the Palace of the Governors Museum, Santa Fe, at Punjabi University, India, and has been a guide and lecturer for university students studying in Bali, Java, and Mexico. He is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship for Poetry and four Witter Bynner Foundation for Poetry teaching awards.