Daniel L. Smith has been writing poetry for over sixty years. He has been called a contemplative psychotherapist, a teacher of meditation, and by some, an accomplished cross-cultural healer. Professionally, teaching advanced clinical skills to mental health professionals throughout North America on topics from grief to addiction, shamanic drumming to meditation, Smith is a writer and teacher of writing at root. He is a specialist in teaching the creative and technical aspects of medical and professional writing for the past five decades.

Despite his academic preparation and teaching experiences, Smith is a life-long devotee of Celtic Shamanism, an experienced veteran of meditation with a beginner’s mind, and full of other contradictions.  He retired from his counseling practice in 2021.  Now, from his log cabin’s screened porch in the foothills of the St. Francois range of the northern Ozark Mountains, he writes of the poetry of presence, and experiments with form, metaphysics, mindfulness, and the conditions for happiness.

Smith was Contributor in Poetry for three consecutive years at the Middlebury College Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference back in the 70’s. His collections of poetry include:
Spider Lace Dragonfly Mind 2014
Among Others 2015
Songs to An Indifferent Sangha, 2nd Edition, Selected Poems A to Z 2015
Incandescence: Poems of Obscurity 2016
Coming Home Late 2016
Without Thought of Return 2016
Shards of the Moon: Haiku and Commentary 2024
The Buddha Is Not In: the Vietnam Poems 2022 2024

Bearded Man on A Bus: Visions of Immigrants, Privilege, and Hope 2025

Non-fiction titles include Room At The Table in 2016, full of family recipes, as a tribute to his in-laws’ hospitality and inclusiveness, and a gift to family.

In The Warming Rain, Sunshine 2025 is a thoughtful response to “Who is Thich Nhat Hanh?” coursework from Deer Park Monastery in 2024. It is a serious and intensely personal look at growing into the Brown Half Robe Jacket of the Order of Interbeing, eight years after his lay ordination into poet and peace activist Thich Nhat Hanh’s Plum Village Tradition.

His latest book, Up In The Hollow: from ancestors to continuations 2026, traces his family history in Appalachia through his hopeful transformation from self toward non-self, leaving only this 326 page memoir, his children, grandchildren, his actions, as his “only true belongings.”

His excerpted non-fiction work has appeared in “The Mask of Therapeutic Containment” (Spirit Talk); “Just South of Grace” (Woods and Waters); and “It Can’t Happen to Me” (The Ligorian). As a well-known speaker and trainer, his videos and “power points” can be found throughout the internet.

Concurrent work in fiction includes Just South of Grace, and short stories, As Sleep Let in Daylight. In non-fiction, there is an unfinished counseling textbook called Grace and Trust, and another, entitled simply a Guide to The Twelve Steps, as well as How To Stop Gambling.  In poetry, there is always one or two a day. Smith can be reached at Betnomore@gmail.com.

 As a clinician, Smith is a leader in innovative meditation, holistic counseling, and shamanic deep process work; his mission is to model what he teaches, helping clients achieve healthy recovery, relapse prevention, and profound spiritual transformation.  His work in conflict resolution, grief, resilience, professional self-care, poetry as cosmology, therapy, and wellness — has helped both individuals and organizations seek developmental, transitional, and transformational change. Check out his clinical work by clicking the link below: Heal.Me Link

Each week, Dan also has a new rant, new poem, or spiritual insight, at his Substack site: explore the range of his writing at https://danielsmith3.substack.com