n nTaha Muhammad Ali speaks with an emotional forthrightness. . . . He has developed a style that seems both ancient and new, deceptively simple and movingly direct.--The Washington Postn n nTaha Muhammad Ali is a revered Palestinian poet whose work is driven by vivid imagination, disarming humor, and unflinching honesty. As a boy he was exiled from his hometown, but rather than turning to a protest poetry of black-and-white slogans to convey this loss, he has created art of the highest order. His poems portray experiences that range from catastrophe to splendor, each preserving an essential human dignity.n n Neither music n fame nor wealth, n not even poetry itself, n could provide consolation n for lifes brevity, n or the fact that King Lear nis a mere eighty pages long, and comes to an end, nand for the thought that one might suffer greatly non account of a rebellious child.n n n So What will include Arabic en face and introductions by co-translators Gabriel Levin and Peter Cole. Muhammad Ali will be one of the international poets featured at the 2006 Dodge Poetry Festival, and he will embark on a reading tour of the United States in the fall of 2006.n nThe first American publication of a major Palestinian poet, whose international festival readings attract vast audiences.