My favorite poets may not be your bread and butter. I have more favorite poems than favorite poets. Rita Dove More Quotes by Rita Dove More Quotes From Rita Dove There are times in life when, instead of complaining, you do something about your complaints. Rita Dove time motivational life Courage has nothing to do with our determination to be great. It has to do with what we decide in that moment when we are called upon to be more. Rita Dove that-moment moments determination 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. Rita Dove growing-up heart children 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. Rita Dove where-we-come childhood thinking Sometimes Rita Dove explanation found sometimes A good poem is like a bouillon cube. It's concentrated and it nourishes you when you need it. Rita Dove cubes needs Being true to yourself really means being true to all the complexities of the human spirit. Rita Dove be-true-to-yourself spirit mean If only the sun-drenched celebrities are being noticed and worshiped, then our children are going to have a tough time seeing the value in the shadows, where the thinkers, probers and scientists are keeping society together. Rita Dove tough-times shadow children Listen how they say your name. If they can't say that right, there's no way they're going to know how to treat you proper, neither. Rita Dove treats names way I've always been intrigued by the way history works, the way we decide what is mentioned. Rita Dove intrigued way We should always do something that makes us feel like a child again. Keep learning, no matter what it is. Rita Dove should matter children The library is an arena of possibility, opening both a window into the soul and a door onto the world. Rita Dove library soul doors 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 women imagination impossible If we’re going to solve the problems of the world, we have to learn how to talk to one another. Poetry is the language at its essence. It’s the bones and the skeleton of the language. It teaches you, if nothing else, how to choose your words. Rita Dove skeletons essence world I think that when a poem can move readers across generations and across its specific class or race then it becomes truly classic. Rita Dove race moving thinking Everybody who's anybody longs to be a tree. Rita Dove tree 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 insignificant worthy ordinary 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 odor of old paper and the sharp inky whiff of new pages. Leather bindings sent me into ecstasy. I even loved to gaze at a closed book and daydream about the possibilities inside. Rita Dove pages-turning book children To me, a poem is almost like someone whispering to another person, or you hear the whispering in your head. I hope with my own poems that the reader feels a connection, soul to soul, that'll help us all feel a little less alone on the planet. And it does have the power to direct change. A writer can make the word 'dark' be something positive. You can relieve a word like 'hysterical' of its misogynistic implications. You can make the language your own. That's what poetry is about. Rita Dove soul dark littles If you can't be free, be a mystery. Rita Dove mystery ifs
