Rita Dove

There are times in life when, instead of complaining, you do something about your complaints.

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.

As an African-American, as a woman, I think that I've been sensitized to the way in which history privileges the white male and the way in which certain aspects of history, the things that we are taught in school, the things that are handed down, never, never entered the picture though they might have been very important.

If our children are unable to voice what they mean, no one will know how they feel. If they can’t imagine a different world, they are stumbling through a darkness made all the more sinister by its lack of reference points. For a young person growing up in America’s alienated neighborhoods, there can be no greater empowerment than to dare to speak from the heart — and then to discover that one is not alone in ones feelings.

All of us have moments in our childhood where we come alive for the first time. And we go back to those moments and think, This is when I became myself.

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.

Don't be so fast, you're all you've got.

I was pirouette and flourish, I was filigree and flame. How could I count my blessings when I didn't know their names?

I was apprehensive. I feared every time I talked about poetry, it would be filtered through the lens of race, sex, and age.

Equality and self-determination should never be divided in the name of religious or ideological fervor.

The joy of working at something to find out what it means to me is what I grew up with.

Under adversity, under oppression, the words begin to fail, the easy words begin to fail. In order to convey things accurately, the human being is almost forced to find the most precise words possible, which is a precondition for literature.

I think reading Shakespeare's plays when I was young was extremely important. He had the ability to make utter strangers come alive.

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.

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.

Being true to yourself really means being true to all the complexities of the human spirit.

I have a high guilt quotient. A poem can go through as many as 50 or 60 drafts. It can take from a day to two years-or longer.

My favorite poets may not be your bread and butter. I have more favorite poems than favorite poets.

The First Book: Go ahead, it won't bite. Well... maybe a little. More a nip, like. A tingle. It's pleasurable, really. You see, it keeps on opening. You may fall in. Sure, it's hard to get started; remember learning to use knife and fork? Dig in: you'll never reach bottom. It's not like it's the end of the world -- just the world as you think you know it.

It makes me furious to hear haters of all skin colors - especially Christian, Jewish, and Muslim fundamentalists - deride other people because of their different beliefs and lifestyles.

I make a discovery in a poem as I write it.