It’s the combination of the intimate and the public that I find so exciting about being poet laureate. – 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
For years, I had heard about the lack of interest in literature in the U.S. and I had complained about it. I failed to understand how people could fail to be moved by art. – Rita Dove
I was appointed Poet Laureate. It came totally out of the blue because most Poet Laureates had been considerably older than I. It was not something that I even had begun to dream about! – Rita Dove
I believe people may have a predisposition for artistic creativity. It doesn’t mean they’re going to make it. – Rita Dove
Being true to yourself really means being true to all the complexities of the human spirit. – Rita Dove
People write me from all over the country, asking me, and sometimes even telling me, what they think a poet laureate should do. I found that immensely valuable. – Rita Dove
I prefer to explore the most intimate moments, the smaller, crystallized details we all hinge our lives on. – Rita Dove
It’s unfortunate that sometimes in schools, there’s this need to have things quantified and graded. – 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
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
Going to the library was the one place we got to go without asking for permission. And they let us choose what we wanted to read. It was a feeling of having a book be mine entirely. – 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
My favorite poets may not be your bread and butter. I have more favorite poems than favorite poets. – Rita Dove
Rap is only one end of a whole spectrum of verbal play and virtuosity. Rap is geared for aural pleasure. – Rita Dove
Have you ever heard a good joke? If you’ve ever heard someone just right, with the right pacing, then you’re already on the way to poetry. It’s about using words in very precise ways and using gesture. – Rita Dove
I keep the drafts of each poem in color-coded folders. I pick up the folders according to how I feel about that color that day. – Rita Dove
I think reading Shakespeare’s plays when I was young was extremely important. He had the ability to make utter strangers come alive. – 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
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
There are times in life when, instead of complaining, you do something about your complaints. – Rita Dove
The sound of the mandolin is a very curious sound because it’s cheerful and melancholy at the same time, and I think it comes from that shadow string, the double strings. – Rita Dove
To write for PC reasons, because you think you ought to be dealing with this subject, is never going to yield anything that is really going to matter to anyone else. It has to matter to you. – Rita Dove
Being Poet Laureate made me realize I was capable of a larger voice. There is a more public utterance I can make as a poet. – Rita Dove
If they don’t read, if they don’t love reading; if they don’t find themselves compulsively reading, I don’t think they’re really a writer. – Rita Dove
