Al Qaissi was born in 1944 near Jaffa, and was raised in refugee camps. He has a BA in Arabic literature. He worked as a teacher and as a journalist, and lives in Jordan. He is one of the most prolific poets of his generation , his poetry is varied stylistically as he uses the free verse as well as the two hemistich verse. Thematically, he occasionally includes literary and historical allusions and folklore. After a thirty year career as a poet, he announced in 1998 his decision to devote himself solely to prose writing.