Louise Landes Levi
DOWN AT THE
DEEP END
chemo poems and drawings
may 10 – August 3 2012
Daniel Abdal-Hayy Moore
The Ecstatic Exchange
2012
Allah dressed them in His own clothes
And he took them in His high protection
Ibn al Husayn al-Sulami
Daniel Moore is a national treasure.
Fr. his early works Dawn Visions & Burnt Heart (City Lights Press) to the present,he has created a body of visionary work
which is unsurpassed in the American canon
Down At The Deep End
is particularly remarkable.
The periphery of terminal illness
becomes for the poet & the mystic Abdal-Hayy
the portal of discovery through
which his life work will be accomplished.
The book’s introduction makes the situation
clear– fr. there, we follow the poet through the litany of the most advanced treatments for his ailment juxtaposed w. the
most heart rending expression of the
psyche & soul (his)
being subject to their
travail.
I hear nearby
Firing squad bullets
Meant for me
I am elsewhere
All my deeds in a little box
In my heart
Moore is less concerned w. ‘healing’ per se,
than he is w. spiritual release, indeed redemption.
At the same time, a life work of artistry & visionary practice of the
Ars poetica arms him w. the internal power necessary to integrate his pain w. a vision, far beyond both pain & pleasure. Indeed for the poet, his
illness is an invitation to divine encounter - the ultimate test of his hard won faith. DOWN At The DEEP END is an Ars moriendi, rare in the 2lst century, but equally an Ars Vivendi, spontaneous & tender
‘Patience is the key to this savage sideshow’ Rimbaud
I must refuse myself
And look for Mercy
Nothing happens
In the instant of our lives and deaths
But this
Sudden awakening.
Certain of these poems
draw fr. the French symbolist tradition & modern
American Zen & ecstatic tradition,
others fr. the high Sufi orders.
Sadi, Hafiz, Rumi
Echo through these works, in perfect resonance
however w. the historic moment in which we live.
I opened the newspaper this
Morning and all the
Type slid off onto my lap
I rearranged it to read
Angels Sighted Over Major Cities
Penguins have sent their
First representatives to the UN
Whale speech decoded and their
Good counsel received
A guide
To survival in the post modern era & also
The plaintiff call of a simple man,
who just happens to be a
great poet & practitioner ,
in this case, the
Sufism of ………………
***
For one who knows how can there be any difference between happiness & sadness
That which is in the hidden core of the human heart is from him SADI
I’ve known Abdal-Hayy for most of my adult life.
DAWN VISIONS
was left as riveting amulet for me
when as a university student in Berkeley, Ca.
I sought something more.
Both Moore & I have traveled
a far distance to meet again –
never so intimately as in my sojourn through
Down At The Deep End –
his Ars Moriendi - Ars Viviendi in 172 p. w. 16 beautiful illustrations, originally in color (but printed in black & white) by the author.
One of which is the cover of the amazing book.
![]()
This
is a death journal . ?
but as its author is an important poet
& noted visionary, it is above all a life journal of poetry –
during the treacherous & effective, gratefully for the poet, anti tumor therapy. For Abdal-Hayy,even the exigencies of chemeo serve as invitation indeed initiation. Profoundmeditation & decades of intimate application, allow him to go beyond the confines & characteristics ordinarily attributed to this process.
The introduction to the book is a rare testament to the
Poet’s clarity & intention.
Hovering between the so domain of so-called life & death, the poet reveals
the insight & the mastery that transcends the two & unites them.
But this is not a sectarian text.
Looking for territory to expand
A wild agenda
Gods blessings upon all of us
felt along the knots of
the spine
and will serve
as inspiration – far beyond
the sick bed – to seekers,
mystics, poets of every persuasion.
Abdal-Hayy has arrived
to the gate of
Supernal
Victory-
&
in doing so he invites
his readers – his intimates - to the dance.
I have had light shed on me
Alhamdulilah
*
Moore
has written for half a century
to vitalize, to inspire & finally, however
gently, & w. humor to instruct.
This is sacred writ, of
The highest order.
*
The world is but a road Heaven a roadside inn
True lovers leave them behind
To reach the Beloved
ibn al Husayn al-Sulami
Louise Landes Levi, poet, traveler, translator, & musician.
USA - Played in Daniel Moore's Floating Lotus Opera
Company, then Eastward to India, studied music
in Bombay, National Center for Performing Art,
& private instruction, continued at Conservatory of
Music, Basel, & Al Akbar Khan College of music in San Rafael, California.
previous page     contents     next page
DOWN AT THE
DEEP END
chemo poems and drawings
may 10 – August 3 2012
Daniel Abdal-Hayy Moore
The Ecstatic Exchange
2012
Allah dressed them in His own clothes
And he took them in His high protection
Ibn al Husayn al-Sulami
Daniel Moore is a national treasure.
Fr. his early works Dawn Visions & Burnt Heart (City Lights Press) to the present,he has created a body of visionary work
which is unsurpassed in the American canon
Down At The Deep End
is particularly remarkable.
The periphery of terminal illness
becomes for the poet & the mystic Abdal-Hayy
the portal of discovery through
which his life work will be accomplished.
The book’s introduction makes the situation
clear– fr. there, we follow the poet through the litany of the most advanced treatments for his ailment juxtaposed w. the
most heart rending expression of the
psyche & soul (his)
being subject to their
travail.
I hear nearby
Firing squad bullets
Meant for me
I am elsewhere
All my deeds in a little box
In my heart
Moore is less concerned w. ‘healing’ per se,
than he is w. spiritual release, indeed redemption.
At the same time, a life work of artistry & visionary practice of the
Ars poetica arms him w. the internal power necessary to integrate his pain w. a vision, far beyond both pain & pleasure. Indeed for the poet, his
illness is an invitation to divine encounter - the ultimate test of his hard won faith. DOWN At The DEEP END is an Ars moriendi, rare in the 2lst century, but equally an Ars Vivendi, spontaneous & tender
‘Patience is the key to this savage sideshow’ Rimbaud
I must refuse myself
And look for Mercy
Nothing happens
In the instant of our lives and deaths
But this
Sudden awakening.
Certain of these poems
draw fr. the French symbolist tradition & modern
American Zen & ecstatic tradition,
others fr. the high Sufi orders.
Sadi, Hafiz, Rumi
Echo through these works, in perfect resonance
however w. the historic moment in which we live.
I opened the newspaper this
Morning and all the
Type slid off onto my lap
I rearranged it to read
Angels Sighted Over Major Cities
Penguins have sent their
First representatives to the UN
Whale speech decoded and their
Good counsel received
A guide
To survival in the post modern era & also
The plaintiff call of a simple man,
who just happens to be a
great poet & practitioner ,
in this case, the
Sufism of ………………
***
For one who knows how can there be any difference between happiness & sadness
That which is in the hidden core of the human heart is from him SADI
I’ve known Abdal-Hayy for most of my adult life.
DAWN VISIONS
was left as riveting amulet for me
when as a university student in Berkeley, Ca.
I sought something more.
Both Moore & I have traveled
a far distance to meet again –
never so intimately as in my sojourn through
Down At The Deep End –
his Ars Moriendi - Ars Viviendi in 172 p. w. 16 beautiful illustrations, originally in color (but printed in black & white) by the author.
One of which is the cover of the amazing book.
This
is a death journal . ?
but as its author is an important poet
& noted visionary, it is above all a life journal of poetry –
during the treacherous & effective, gratefully for the poet, anti tumor therapy. For Abdal-Hayy,even the exigencies of chemeo serve as invitation indeed initiation. Profoundmeditation & decades of intimate application, allow him to go beyond the confines & characteristics ordinarily attributed to this process.
The introduction to the book is a rare testament to the
Poet’s clarity & intention.
Hovering between the so domain of so-called life & death, the poet reveals
the insight & the mastery that transcends the two & unites them.
But this is not a sectarian text.
Looking for territory to expand
A wild agenda
Gods blessings upon all of us
felt along the knots of
the spine
and will serve
as inspiration – far beyond
the sick bed – to seekers,
mystics, poets of every persuasion.
Abdal-Hayy has arrived
to the gate of
Supernal
Victory-
&
in doing so he invites
his readers – his intimates - to the dance.
I have had light shed on me
Alhamdulilah
*
Moore
has written for half a century
to vitalize, to inspire & finally, however
gently, & w. humor to instruct.
This is sacred writ, of
The highest order.
*
The world is but a road Heaven a roadside inn
True lovers leave them behind
To reach the Beloved
ibn al Husayn al-Sulami
Louise Landes Levi, poet, traveler, translator, & musician.
USA - Played in Daniel Moore's Floating Lotus Opera
Company, then Eastward to India, studied music
in Bombay, National Center for Performing Art,
& private instruction, continued at Conservatory of
Music, Basel, & Al Akbar Khan College of music in San Rafael, California.