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 1 Share Now -
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 3 Share Now -
If we really want to be full and generous in spirit, we have no choice but to trust at some level. - Rita Dove 4 Share Now -
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 5 Share Now -
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 6 Share Now -
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 poetry is everything that's happening around us. - Rita Dove 7 Share Now -
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 8 Share Now -
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 9 Share Now -
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 10 Share Now -
