ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Born in 1940 in Oakland, California, Daniel Abdal-Hayy Moore’s first book of poems, Dawn Visions, was published by Lawrence Ferlinghetti of City Lights Books, San Francisco, in 1964, and the second in 1972, Burnt Heart/Ode to the War Dead. He created and directed The Floating Lotus Magic Opera Company in Berkeley, California in the late 60s, and presented two major productions, The Walls Are Running Blood, and Bliss Apocalypse. He became a Sufi Muslim in 1970, performed the Hajj in 1972, and lived and traveled throughout Morocco, Spain, Algeria and Nigeria, landing in California and publishing The Desert is the Only Way Out, and Chronicles of Akhira in the early 80s (Zilzal Press). Residing in Philadelphia since 1990, in 1996 he published The Ramadan Sonnets (Jusoor/City Lights), and in 2002, The Blind Beekeeper (Jusoor/Syracuse University Press). He has been the major editor for a number of works, including The Burdah of Shaykh Busiri, translated by Shaykh Hamza Yusuf, and the poetry of Palestinian poet, Mahmoud Darwish, translated by Munir Akash. He is also widely published on the worldwide web: The American Muslim, DeenPort, and his own website, among others: http://www.danielmoorepoetry.com. The Ecstatic Exchange Series is bringing out the extensive body of his works of poetry, beginning in 2005 with Mars & Beyond, Laughing Buddha Weeping Sufi, Salt Prayers and a revised edition of Ramadan Sonnets, and continuing in 2006 beginning with Psalms for the Brokenhearted, I Imagine a Lion, Coattails of the Saint, Love is a Letter Burning in a High Wind, and The Flame of Transformation Turns to Light. Abdallah Jones and the Disappearing-Dust Caper is the tenth in the series, and the first for young adults in the Ecstatic Exchange / Crescent Series.

15 Responses to ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  1. muslimology says:
    August 13, 2007 at 2:35 am

    As salaam aleikum!

    Great website! I was reading your conversion story and I was wondering if you could expand on this:

    “The prophetic knowledge our guide talked about was a kind of
    spiritual existentialism. It was a matter of how you enter a room, which foot
    you entered with, that you sipped water but gulped mild, that you said
    “bismillah” (In the name of Allah) before eating or drinking, and
    “alhamdulillah” (Praise be to Allah) afterwards, and so on. But rather than
    seeing this as a burden of hundreds of “how-to’s”, it was more like what the
    LSD experience taught us, that there is a “right” way to do things that has, if
    you will, a cosmic resonance. It is a constant awareness of courtesy to the
    Creator and His creation that in itself ensures and almost visionary
    intensity.”

    I want to know specifically what those LSD experiences showed you–if you could describe it, it would be nice as I have never done anything of that kind, nor do I intend to. :)

    Reply
  3. Sayfudeen says:
    January 24, 2009 at 4:49 pm

    Assalamoalaikum Sidi Daniel,

    Your work is like the fresh beautiful billowing curtains from a window to the next world.

    There is a deep resonance of peace and love in your words.

    I’m a young poet living in Montreal. I have a background in theater and acting as well. I belong to the Montreal sufi center there- we follow the Naqshbandi lineage- headed by our beloved teacher Shaykh Nazim Effendi, who resides in Cyprus.

    I look forward to browsing your site and reading more of your work.

    I became muslim in 2003 and have followed the path since 2005

    Pray for us in this blessed month and I’m wishing the best for you and your family

    May the love of Rasulallah and his inheritors shine brighter in all our hearts.

    sayfudeen

    Reply
  4. Daniel Abdal-Hayy Moore says:
    January 24, 2009 at 4:59 pm

    Dear Sayfudeen:

    Wa ‘alaikum as-salaam

    May Allah bless you, the shaykh and the entire community. And outward to all who follow the Deen with sincerity and himma.

    And imagination! Here’s my poem, The Well, from Coattails of the Saint… about inspiration.

    THE WELL

    Some days there’s a well at the
    bottom of my garden and

    some days there’s none

    A bucket appears in the air I’m
    allowed to let down

    A golden rope is attached that
    shines in the sun

    When I pull the bucket back up
    it’s full of milk

    Moonlight shines in the milk
    and makes it silver

    If you drink the milk you become
    a version of the original

    Your hand shows the landscape
    your heart wants to reside in

    The bucket’s let down in the dark
    where shadows dwell

    In the shadows are moving shapes
    and occasionally speech

    The air gets crowded with presences
    asking for space

    When you drink the milk time and
    space get effaced

    I call out to you from a
    place far away

    I see God’s angels streaming down to
    earth with messages

    Our singing can never reach
    their intensity of song

    A length of rope is let down
    into the dark

    Let the light anoint the
    hand of your fate with its laughter

    Your weeping will cease
    and you’ll be made lighter

    Some days there’s no well
    at the bottom of my garden

    But I hear its bucket
    hit the sides and splash in the darkness

    The echo if it rings in my ears
    and my heart strains to listen

    God is nearer than our jugular vein
    we’re the far ones

    Let the bucket down slowly
    its golden rope will serve you

    Delicious silvery milk
    is the resulting secret

    There’s so much light everywhere
    it begins to hurt a little

    Let God’s light allow
    every other light to be lit

    Some days a well appears
    some days not

    When it doesn’t appear we praise its source
    when it does we become it

    Let God’s voice allow the light
    to surface

    Moon and sunlight
    glitter on its shining surface

    When we lean in to see
    a face appears that’s not our face

    It’s not a face at all
    it’s a version of the original

    I don’t think the well will appear again
    and then it’s there

    My job is to wait and listen
    and keep the garden clear

    Your job O God is
    to fill us with wonder
    ________________

    Send me some of your poems, insha’Allah… my email: abdalhayy@danielmoorepoetry.com

    ma-salaama

    Reply
  5. Daniel Abdal-Hayy Moore says:
    January 24, 2009 at 5:00 pm

    (Sorry, it’s from my book, Psalms for the Brokenhearted)

    Reply
  6. Shuara says:
    April 17, 2009 at 4:41 am

    Salaams,

    Loving the poetry and will return iA in approx. 38 days -after exams to comment iA. Didn’t realise how much talent this Ummah had and how beautifully the Muslims remember Allaah SWT in their poetry.

    Please – duas for me and my family and I can see myself being a HUGE addict on sites like this and the Muslims of Norwich one…….

    Shu.

    Reply
  7. Ashraf Dockrat says:
    September 17, 2009 at 11:50 am

    Assalamu’alaikum
    Dear Abd al-Hayy

    I have enjoyed reading your poetry very much.

    May Allah Ta’ala grant you increase.

    Wassalam
    Ashraf Dockrat

    Reply
  8. Catherine Bonham says:
    May 31, 2010 at 1:40 am

    She knew she would know it
    As soon as she saw it;http://ecstaticxchange.wordpress.com/about/feed/
    She felt it in her heart. She smiled into the sun and the moon.
    The wind caught her up, a kite ascending the cosmos of her mind.
    “ah,” she cried, “ah –This is myself puffing the cloud of consciousness.”
    This is why she had pleaded for the computer- lifelong look and wait
    for the travels in her mind, the zeros behind One google. She found herself
    In ecstaticchange.wordpress.com

    cdb may 30, 2010

    Reply
  9. Daniel Abdal-Hayy Moore says:
    May 31, 2010 at 1:30 pm

    Welcome, Catherine Bonham, holding the string to that kite as it bobs and dips among the clouds and sky… May you be buoyed and extended… Your sweet reply certainly has begun my day!

    Reply
  10. Heidi Primo says:
    November 26, 2010 at 10:30 pm

    Bravo- Daniel, such a long journey it has been since the old Berkeley and Santa Cruz days of the Floating Lotus Magic Opera Company, and all the wonderful memories of Surya, Kamala, Mark and the rest. I, too, was there and part of that delightful discovery.

    I, too, converted to Islam (in 2004) and helped to open a Muslim children’s school in Cambridge, Mass. My daughter, once a dancer in San Francisco and Hawaii, married a Morroccan and embraced Islam. They both work for a humanitarian global charity called “Islamic Relief.”

    I am still a traveler, teaching English in Malaysia for the past three years, but about to move on soon to go teach at a university in Mozambique. It was great to find you online and see what you have done with your life and your amazing words. Humdullah!

    Reply
    • danielabdalhayymoore says:
      August 23, 2011 at 5:32 am

      Dear Heidi:
      Salaama

      I’m so sorry it’s been almost a year since you posted your comment, but I just found it today by Allah, and am amazed by it. Were you actually in our productions? (Forgive my memory lapses, but there were many folk who joined us for some of the journey… ) I may be visiting Singapore December 10th & 11th this year for a Sufi Conference, to read poetry and talk about it. Perhaps you’ll be able to come, though we may also get up to Malaysia as well, Kuala Lampur perhaps. All insha’Allah. Amazing how our various roads have led to Allah! Alhamdulillah…

      Reply
  11. free5piritphotography says:
    August 11, 2011 at 3:19 pm

    Bless you for your comment and lovely words. We don’t know each other but we definitely share many wonderful things, namely the beautiful family in Morocco. May Allah protect and bless them always; I also love reading your poetry, definitely food for thought! Thanks for sharing! Please do continue to stop by!

    Reply
  12. danielabdalhayymoore says:
    August 23, 2011 at 5:34 am

    Salaama

    Great to hear from you… that “wonderful family in Morocco” could refer to a number of folk… but may Allah bless them all and yourself! Thank you for your comment, and I hope you have seen the posts for each day so far…

    Reply
    • free5piritphotography says:
      August 30, 2011 at 9:30 pm

      Haha, “that wonderful family in Morocco” refers to Hamza, Nora and their family (as you mentioned in your comment on my page):-) Allah bless them all.
      Your Ramadan poems have really kept my spirits elevated throughout the month!

      Reply

  13. Pingback: The 2012 Project(s) | Write Anything

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