Finally, Poetry

Not mine, and not poetry, but this review of a memoir by Nigerian poet, Wole Soyinka, who in a wide cultural perspective and with poetic overtones fashions the drama of existence and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1986. As I learned in Amy Goodman's April 2006 interview with him he was a peaceworker accused of conspiracy and imprisoned by the dictatorial Nigerian government of the late 60's. He spent almost two years in solitary confinement, an attempt he says, to break his mind.

My favourite nugget from what I've read of Soyinka's work thus far: The greatest threat to freedom is the absence of criticism. Do you think the Harper and his merry band of UltraCons and right-wingnuts could learn something here? B-)