“ Equality and self-determination should never be divided in the name of religious or ideological fervor. Rita Dove
“ I was apprehensive. I feared every time I talked about poetry, it would be filtered through the lens of race, sex, and age. Rita Dove
“ Nothing is too small. Nothing is too, quote-unquote, ordinary or insignificant. Those are the things that make up the measure of our days, and they're the things that sustain us. And they're the thing… Rita Dove
“ I see a resurgence of interest in poetry. I am less optimistic about the prospects for the arts when it comes to federal funding. Rita Dove
“ If we really want to be full and generous in spirit, we have no choice but to trust at some level. Rita Dove
“ From the time I began to read, as a child, I loved to feel their heft in my hand and the warm spot caused by their intimate weight in my lap; I loved the crisp whisper of a page turning, the musky odo… Rita Dove
“ The poetry that sustains me is when I feel that, for a minute, the clouds have parted and I've seen ecstasy or something. Rita Dove
“ My father is a chemist, my mother was a homemaker. My parents instilled in us the feeling that learning was the most exciting thing that could happen to you, and it never ends. Rita Dove
“ I try to show what it is about language and music that enthralls, because I think those are the two elements of poetry. Rita Dove
“ Without imagination we can go nowhere. And imagination is not restricted to the arts. Every scientist I have met who has been a success has had to imagine. Rita Dove
“ What is ironic is that Allen Ginsberg's importance was in its twilight for so many years that it took his death to bring it to the front page. He electrified an entire world! Rita Dove
“ There are distinct duties of a poet laureate. I plan a reading series at the Library of Congress and advise the librarian. The rest is how I want to promote poetry. Rita Dove
“ Instead of trying to come up and pontificate on what literature is, you need to talk with children, to teachers, and make sure they get poetry in the curriculum early. Rita Dove
“ You have to imagine it possible before you can see something. You can have the evidence right in front of you, but if you can't imagine something that has never existed before, it's impossible. Rita Dove
“ I thought, after the Pulitzer, at least nothing will surprise me quite that much in my life. And another one happened. It was quite amazing. Rita Dove
“ One definition of eternity is that we are not alone on this planet, that there are those who've gone before and those who will come, and that there is a community of spirits. Rita Dove
“ I think one of the things that people tend to forget is that poets do write out of life. It isn't some set piece that then gets put up on the shelf, but that the impetus, the real instigation for poet… Rita Dove
“ NexusI wrote stubbornly into the evening.At the window, a giant praying mantisrubbed his monkey wrench head against the glass,begging vacantly with pale eyes;and the commas leapt at me like wormsor mi… Rita Dove
