In 1244, Jelaluddin Rumi, a Sufi scholar in Konya, Turkey, met an itinerant dervish, Shams of Tabriz. A powerful friendship ensued. When Shams died, the grieving Rumi gripped a pole in his garden, and turning round it, began reciting imagistic poetry about inner life and love of God. After Rumi's death, his son founded the Mevlevi Sufi order, the whirling dervishes. Lovers of Rumi's poems comment on their power and meaning, including religious historian Huston Smith, writer Simone Fattal, poet Robery Bly, and Coleman Barks, who reworks literal translations of Rumi into poetic English. Musicians accompany Barks and Bly as they recite their versions of several of Rumi's ecstatic poems.

Smoky little clubs, late nights, late nights of conversation over a glass of beer and a guitar. The ...

By ending the life of Jean Senac on August 30, 1973 in Algiers, his assassins believed they would si...

Jean Sénac, born in Béni Saf in Algeria in 1926 and died in Algiers in 1973, is today considered one...

American cowboys have been writing poetry for over a century. This little-known literary tradition b...
Poetic stroll in the work of Jean Genet.

A biography of the poet W. B. Yeats and his contribution to the Irish independence movement as a Pro...

A portrait of Baba Vanga, born Vangeliya Pandeva Dimitrova, a blind Bulgarian prophet, mystic, clair...
Follows the young people of Selma, Alabama's RATCo (Random Acts of Theatre Company) as they journey ...

In his lifetime, Thomas Merton was hailed as a prophet and censured for his outspoken social critici...

Documentary tracing the extreme life of outlaw writer, performance artist and punk icon, Kathy Acker...

Cacaso, a Brazilian poet, lived in Rio de Janeiro. Born Antonio Carlos de Brito (1944-1987) he was o...

About the poet C.A.Conrad, an eccentric Elvis worshiping poet and tarot card reader, who confronts h...

Since 1985, poets, songwriters and musicians have gathered at the Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Nevada.

Poets from all walks of life speak their truth through their poetry. A film about poetry by award-wi...