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" 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. "
Rita Dove
Through
Day
Go
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" I'm a night person. My best times are midnight to six, actually. "
Rita Dove
Midnight
Best
Night
" 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
Poet
Most
Dream
" 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
Me
Poetry
Seen
" 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. "
Rita Dove
Woman
History
School
" The joy of working at something to find out what it means to me is what I grew up with. "
Rita Dove
Joy
Up
Working
" I always loved science. And in fact, I got a science award in high school. I mean, I loved science, but I think I loved literature more. "
Rita Dove
High School
Think
Science
" 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
Art
How
Literature
" 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
Think
Two
Try
" 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
Read
Find
Love
" 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. "
Rita Dove
Find
Adversity
Oppression
" It's the combination of the intimate and the public that I find so exciting about being poet laureate. "
Rita Dove
Public
Being
Poet
" 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. "
Rita Dove
Colors
Christian
People
" There are times in life when, instead of complaining, you do something about your complaints. "
Rita Dove
You
Life
Complaining
" I make a discovery in a poem as I write it. "
Rita Dove
Write
Discovery
I Write
" It's unfortunate that sometimes in schools, there's this need to have things quantified and graded. "
Rita Dove
Need
Sometimes
Things
" In working on a poem, I love to revise. Lots of younger poets don't enjoy this, but in the process of revision I discover things. "
Rita Dove
Love
Poem
Process
" 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
Think
Sometimes
People
" 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
Poetry
Time
Lens
" 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
He
Important
Reading
" 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
Someone
Poetry
Good
" My favorite poets may not be your bread and butter. I have more favorite poems than favorite poets. "
Rita Dove
May
Favorite
Than
" 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
Poem
Color
Day
" For many years, I thought a poem was a whisper overheard, not an aria heard. "
Rita Dove
Whisper
Poem
Heard
" 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
Shadow
Time
Think
" I grew up in Ohio, where civil-rights accomplishments had already begun to accelerate before Martin Luther King appeared. In hindsight, we know that many people, black and white, were instrumental in changing the Jim Crow status quo on all levels. "
Rita Dove
Up
Black And White
People
" I loved to read, but I always thought that the dream was too far away. The person who had written the book was a god, it wasn't a person. "
Rita Dove
God
Thought
Loved
" 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
I Am
Interest
I See
" Libraries are where it all begins. "
Rita Dove
Where
Libraries
Begins
" 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
Voice
Capable
I Can
" 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 things that certainly can become worthy of poetry. "
Rita Dove
Nothing
Worthy
Measure