Rita Dove

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.

When we are touched by something it's as if we're being brushed by an angel's wings.

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.

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.

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.

To practice your scales, so to speak, in order play the symphony, is what you have to do as a young poet.

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.

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

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.

It really wasn't until I was in college when I began to write more and more, and I realized I was scheduling my entire life around my writing.

I prefer to explore the most intimate moments, the smaller, crystallized details we all hinge our lives on.

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