Poetry for the Soul
Welcome to The Great Night of Rumi and his Soul Friends, a place to hear inspired presentations of the poetry of Rumi and other Soul Poets like WB Yeats, Mary Oliver, Kabir, and Rilke
This site is the archive of the Great Nights of Rumi, Great Nights of Soul Poetry, and The Great Night of Rumi and His Soul Friends. You can hear recordings of Rumi’s poetry and that of other soul poets, and see some photos and videos of these events. We, Dan and Dale Zola, produced about 30 Great Nights between 1985 and 2012, hosting them in the SF Bay Area in bookstores, churches, and at The Freight and Salvage.
Our format was simple. Accompanied by improvised music, a performer stepped up to the microphone and said a poem from memory or, to use a common phrase, by heart. There really isn’t an English word to describe what these evenings were. Dan learned this format from Robert Bly and Micheal Meade. When all the elements clicked, magic happened. Perhaps this created what Rumi called “a community of the spirit’’ or what Michael Meade called a “temporary community.”
We were not pushing any agenda or any particular set of ideas. Our goal was to offer poetry performances that made us laugh, cry, reflect, and be amazed. We wanted to honor, enjoy and celebrate Rumi and other poets. We used Coleman Barks’ versions of Rumi’s poetry and we are grateful to him for giving us permission to use his work.
As we were presenting these evenings we didn’t think much about the future. Fortunately, some wonderful folks recorded them. Big thanks to Lou Judson, Randy Rood, and Tony Ferro for creating the recordings on this site. Thanks to Maurice Wren for many of the photos, and to other photographers whose names are lost to history. Phil Wigand, John Dumitru, and a few anonymous heroes videoed the evenings. Big thanks to Adrian Bozzolo, who worked with brains and good humor behind the scenes to help make these evenings happen.
We fondly remember Judith Chetana Karel who died in 2022. You can hear her bring her passion to many poems on this site. May her memory be a blessing.
Rumi poem presented by Ray Gatchalian
“One of the rules of The Great Night of Rumi is that all poems are spoken from memory. We have been producing the show for the last 13 years and we have found that when the presenters speak the poems, ‘by heart,’ it creates an aliveness and beauty that is unique.”
Dale Zola, Producer and Performer
“I experienced The Great Night of Rumi as a banquet for my soul. The songs, the poetry, the instruments, the dance, came to me as an invitation to take a deep breath and celebrate the gift of life. I did so not in theory, but in my heart and returned home ready to affirm another day.”