<DIV><p><br>&ldquo;Taha Muhammad Ali speaks with an emotional forthrightness. . . . He has developed a style that seems both ancient and new, deceptively simple and movingly direct.&rdquo;&mdash;<I>The Washington Post</I></p> <I> </I><p><br>Taha 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.</p><p> <I>Neither music</I><br> <I>fame nor wealth,</I><br> <I>not even poetry itself,</I><br> <I>could provide consolation</I><br> <I>for life&rsquo;s brevity,</I><br> <I>or the fact that</I> King Lear<br><I>is a mere eighty pages long, and comes to an end,</I><BR><I>and for the thought that one might suffer greatly</I><BR><I>on account of a rebellious child.</I></p><p><br> <I>So What</I> will include Arabic <I>en face</I> 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.</p></DIV>