Confessions of a Pentecostal Buddhist

For decades, the poetry of Daniel Edward Moore has been featured in some of the country's most prestigious literary journals. Now, for the first time, many of his works appear together in one eclectic, thought-provoking volume: Confessions of a Pentecostal Buddhist.

As the title suggests, some of the twenty-three poems in the collection center on spiritual themes such as meditation, childhood experiences with organized religion, and family members' beliefs. Others tackle topics as diverse as nature, death, love, EKGs, and frogging. Some are deeply personal and addressed to people in Moore's life, while others focus on universal concerns that have the power to widen chasms between people or bring them together.

By turns sensual and reflective, plaintive and passionate, the poems showcase Moore's virtuosic ability to conjure a mood through vivid imagery and striking metaphor. Narrated from a multitude of viewpoints-the husband's, male lover's, abused son's, estranged father's, addict's-the disparate voices combine to produce the effect of speaking in tongues.

For Moore, writing poetry is cathartic, and the poems gathered here are intended to help others break down real and imagined walls around religion, gender, and sexual identity while revealing the healing and hurtful power of words.