Two Poems

DANIEL ABDAL-HAYY MOORE

A Scientist Walked Into A Wall

A scientist walked into a
wall and broke his nose

A theologian walked into a
wall and

became the wall

A saint saw no wall at
all

He saw only Allah on
both sides of the

wall he saw not at all

and the rising and the
falling like a

galloping horse’s back

and the circular seasons
descending and ascending

like the throbs in a
bloodstream

and the fish in it swimming
oceanward

Only Allah

I was born in a hospital in
Alameda California

Only Allah

I had this face I
have even now

Only Allah

The lights crisscrossed
this way and that

Only Allah

My parents loved each other
and showed affection

Only Allah

I drew pictures on
construction paper

Only Allah

The door swung open and
I went through it

Only Allah

Sat as a Buddhist
facing a wall

Only Allah

Wrote Dawn Visions on a
trip to Mexico

Only Allah

San Francisco
1964

Only Allah

Angel Gabriel
stood up in a tree

Only Allah

The Floating Lotus
Magic Opera Company

Only Allah

A Sufi shaykh’s deputy in an
attic room in Berkeley

Only Allah

Shaykh ibn al-Habib
in Meknes Morocco

Only Allah

Clouds rolled away
and keep rolling away

Only Allah

Drove with five others
in a Peugeot in Algeria

Only Allah

Met saints of Allah there Hajj Isa
ben Hajj Isa and Hajj Isa

Only Allah

Married Malika in a
burst of light

Only Allah

Came to Philadelphia
where Bawa’s gaze covers us

Only Allah

The Deen of Islam a garden
with living vegetation

Only Allah

Shaping us into
alchemical human beings

Only Allah

Cancer zamzam hemp oil
wheat grass

Only Allah

The Door of Light
with a Dark Door inside it

Only Allah

The Door of Dark
with a Light Door inside it

Only Allah

Being here for a moment
going on forever

Only Allah

La ilaha illa Allah
Muhammad Rasulullah


Daniel Abdal-Hayy Moore (born in 1940 in Oakland, California and died in 2016 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, rahimahullah) had his first book of poems, Dawn Visions, 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 Hamza Yusuf, and the poetry of Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish, translated by Munir Akash. He has been poetry editor for Seasons Journal, Islamica Magazine, a 2010 translation by Munir Akash of State of Siege by Mahmoud Darwish (Syracuse University Press), and The Prayer of the Oppressed by Imam Muhammad Nasir al-Dar’i, translated by Hamza Yusuf (Sandala). 

In 2011, 2012 and 2014, he was a winner of the Nazim Hikmet Prize for Poetry. In 2013, he won an American Book Award, and in 2013 and 2014, he was listed among The 500 Most Influential Muslims for his poetry.

Issue no. 2: Mystics & Saints (print)
$20.00

Sabr Tooth Tiger Magazine, Issue no. 2: Mystics & Saints. 6x9 paperback, 196 pages. 

Contributors:

2026 CLARION POETRY PRIZE

Kale Hensley (Grand Prize Winner), Syed Hashmi (Runner-Up), Sam Beal (Runner-Up)

POETRY

Daniel Abdal-Hayy Moore, D.W. Baker, Kara Barlow, e.l. biddle, Cat Brogan, Linda Bryant-Davis, Joseph Byrd, Halliday Carpender, Sophie Cornwell, Stephan Crown-Weber, Tony DiCarlo, Jané Dowd, Bart Edelman, Elliot, Beatriz F. Fernandez, Gretchen Gale, Charisse Gendron, Z.H. Gill, Ewen Glass, Fernando Jerez, Victor Kamhazi, Justin Karcher, Kristin Lueke, Merlin June Mack, Pip McGough, Mark J. Mitchell, KG Newman, Lisa Perkins, Patrick T. Reardon, jw summerisle, Skye Tarshis, François Tristan L'Hermite, Hanna Webster, Payson Whitwell, Rachael A. Zubal-Ruggieri

FICTION

Jer Hayes, Allen Kesten, Jamie LeFort, Christina Rauh Fishburne & Charlie Rauh, Taylor Thornburg, Fiona Vigo Marshall 

CREATIVE NONFICTION

JH Lucas, latrell "lala" novali, Gina Twardosz 

VISUAL ART

Edena Alvarado, Julieta Beltrán Lazo, Aubrienne Bergeron, Arch Budzar, Ashley Czajkowski, Lattea Falco, Zander Fieschko, Sarah Goodermuth, ​​Hannah Greteman, Catie Hernandez, Kaitlyn “Thu” Hettinger, Sophia Huang, Jowonder, Martina McAteer, Mina Mond, Brigid O'Neil, Diana Story, Sydney Strickland, Émile Sylvain, Angel Teeth

Issue no. 2 is expected to release in June 2026. Please note that copies are printed-to-order and can take up to one month to be delivered.