COLEMAN BARKS, considered the pre-eminent translator of Persian poet Jelaluddin Rumi, has recently grown fond of pointing out that the 13th century Islamic mystic is both the best-selling poet in the United States and the most popular poet on Afghan radio. Since 1976, when Robert Bly first showed him a slim volume of Rumi translations, and told him, “These poems need to be released from their cages,” Barks has published eighteen volumes of Rumi’s poetry translated into contemporary English, including The Soul of Rumi: A New Collection of Ecstatic Poems, Unseen Rain: Quatrains of Rumi (both in 2001), The Glance: Songs of Soul-Meeting (1999) and The Essential Rumi (1995). His own poetry books include Tentmaking: Poems and Prose Paragraphs (2001) and Gourd Seed (1993). Barks taught for thirty-four years at the University of Georgia, Athens, where he was named Poet and Professor Emeritus of English.