Fairhope writer uses life experiences in poetry

The way Daisy Seale Moore of Fairhope handled tragedy many years ago transcended her grief into a popular book of poems of prayers.
   
Her husband, Paul Moore, a longtime Baptist pastor, died of a heart attack more than 18 years ago. His last pastorate was Fairhope Avenue Baptist, Fairhope.
   
Daisy would begin scribbling her deepest feelings and thoughts in longhand on paper, never realizing they would one day become a book that could impact thousands of lives.
   
It was in the spring of 1983 that she was up early, meditating on God’s Word.
She was praying and doing her reading, and though she had done this for years, there was something different this time.
   
“My boys (children) were all grown and my husband had died, and I guess I just had the time and quietness. I started meditating more. I just picked up my pen and started writing my prayer, ‘Come Sweet Spirit,’” she said.
   
“I don’t think I’ve ever done anything that I’ve felt so sure of,” she said. “Pen, patience and providence really brought this about.”
   
Moore and her late husband, both graduates of William Carey College in Hattiesburg, Miss., influenced the lives of many youth. He was also a vocational counselor and she was a school counselor.
   
Moore retired as an educator in 1993, with experience in classroom teaching and playing a major role in the counseling program of the Baldwin County School System.
   
Her book offers lyric poetry, which is poetry that has a tendency to almost sing. She covers topics such as love, joy, suffering, birth, death, aspirations, longings of the soul, peace, hope and faith.
   
“I never really considered publishing them until several years after I started writing,” she said.  
Encouraged to do so by friends, she entered poetry contests.
   
“I entered a few contests and in 1987 I received the World of Poetry Golden Poet Award for ‘A Child’s Faith,’ and I consider that my signature poem,” she said.
   
About a year ago, her first book, “Wings of Love, Poems and Prayers” was published by Factor Press of Mobile.
   
Because of her talent and knowledge of music, she is considering setting some of her poems to music or perhaps doing readings of the poems with music in the background.
   
She sang numerous songs growing up at Southside Baptist Church, Meridian, Miss.
  
With a strong desire to lift her voice to God, she studied music. She continued singing as a member of Baptist churches that her husband was pastor of in Georgia and Alabama.    
“I hope that I can be so in tune with God that I’ll know what to do,” she said.
   
Moore said she seems to be at her best creatively in the spring and summer. “I was born in April and my name is Daisy, so I guess I’m a child of the spring and summer.”
   
At first, she questioned whether the general public would really be interested in her poems. Then she said that it was like the Lord said to her that anything he has given her was good enough and should be shared. Friends from the Fairhope area have helped  commit the poetry to computer disks and have done the graphic design for the cover of the book.
   
A longtime Baptist, she is now in the Episcopal church, in part to worship with her grown children and their families. Once at a book-signing event a man reading her book asked her where she went to church. She said she was attending the Episcopal church and the man said, ‘Well, you write like a Baptist.’ ”
   
Moore travels to speak to various groups. To contact her, call 251-928-0881.