Beliefnet and Yahoo! chatted with Coleman Barks, translator of the Sufi poet Jelaluddin Rumi, on May 24th. Barks' wildly popular translations of Rumi are the best-selling poetry in America today and have introduced thousands to Sufism's beautiful, mysterious understanding of the divine. Click here

to read the complete chat transcript.

Coleman Barks has traveled America giving readings of Rumi's poetry (listen to samples). Along with Deepak Chopra, Robert Bly, Huston Smith, and others, he appears in the video "Rumi: Poet of the Heart." His upcoming book "The Soul of Rumi" will be available in September from HarperSanFrancisco.