Daniel
O’Connell (aka “Dan O.”) was born and raised on Long Island, New York. He started working at age 12 and has been paying rent ever since. Dan O. has worked as a busboy, cook, truck driver, janitor, gardener, factory worker, cab driver, mover, cashier, barista, yoga and meditation teacher, bar back, marital arts instructor, field hand (corn), bookstore clerk, and manager of chain bookstores and restaurants.
Along the way, Dan O. obtained a Masters Degree in Philosophy, a teaching certificate in yoga and meditation from the Himalayan Institute of Yoga Science & Philosophy, Zen training, a brown belt in karate, a third-degree black belt in taekwondo, and a Doctor of Jurisprudence. Dan taught Philosophy and Rhetoric at the university level for seven years, and is currently a Litigation & Trial attorney for an eviction defense non-profit, and occasionally teaches and writes about the Law. Dan O. does not have an MFA in poetry.
Dan O.’s poetry has appeared over eighty times, and won or placed in many poetry contests. Dan O. has been a guest poet in college writing classes and a featured reader at many poetry venues and fundraisers. He was Translation Advisor for Belonging: New Poetry from Iranians Around the World, ed. Niloufar Talebi (North Atlantic Books, 2008); see www.thetranslationproject.org.
Dan O. is the
author of three full-length collections of poetry: Different Coasts (Parthenon West Press, 2003); and Theory of Salvation (2009). Purchase books here. And, A Third Set of Teeth. Dan O. also authored and distributed other collections of poems beginning in his twenties, including Cloud in Sky, Shadow on Mountain: A Cycle of Haiku Poems, illustrated by Kate Claire.
Dan O. began writing poetry when he was a child. He read in his first Open Mic at age 23, and featured shortly thereafter. Some of Dan O.'s favorite poets are Ann Sexton, Theodore Roethke, Pablo Neruda, Kim Addonizio, Raymond Carver, James Wright, Forugh Farrokhzad, Tu Fu, Li Po, and Su Tung-p'o. Click here for Dan O.'s poetry bio.