On a sad note, I heard yesterday that the great [tag]Palestinian Poet[/tag] [tag]Mahmoud Darwish[/tag] has died. Another important voice lost to us. What I find sadly interesting about this is the near total lack of coverage by the American press. The only American press coverage I found was on, of course, [tag]NPR[/tag]. Are we Americans so self-centered, so selfish, that anything or anyone of any importance outside our own borders, excluding any war or conflict we might be engaged in, is somehow lacking the merit for coverage?

Poets are revered in other countries, looked upon as heroes. They are the voice of people who have no voice, eloquently expressing the pain and struggle inflicted at the hand’s of tyrants and mad men, and they all too often suffer the consequences of their words at those same hands. Here in America, with rare exception, the only poets of any note are those who write the cheesy greetings in Hallmark cards.

If you’d like to hear Mahmoud Darwish reading one of his poems in his native language, go Here. For BBC coverage, go Here.

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The larger of the two stories I mentioned in