“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.” IfsKnowsWayNamesKnow HowTreats Author:Rita Dove
“Poetry connects you to yourself, to the self that doesn't know how to talk or negotiate.” KnowsSelfKnow How Author:Rita Dove
“My inspiration comes from everywhere, just walking down the street and I never know where it's going to come from, so I keep a notebook with me at all times and the only criteria for anything making it into that notebook is if it stops me in my tracks for even an instant, if it catches my eye or my ear and I just write it down.” IfsKnowsWritingInspirationEyeStreetsWalkingEarsTrackAll TimeInstantCriteriaNotebook Author:Rita Dove
“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.” IfsKnowsWorldFeelsHeartMeanChildrenPersonsMadeDifferentFeelingsAmericaYoungSpeakVoiceDarknessKnow HowGrowing UpGreaterGrowingImagineEmpowermentOur ChildrenDareNeighborhoodNot AloneDifferent WorldsSinisterStumblingSpeak From The Heart Author:Rita Dove
“I was pirouette and flourish, I was filigree and flame. How could I count my blessings when I didn't know their names?” KnowsNamesBlessingFlamesMy BlessingPirouettes Book:Collected Poems: 1974-2004 Source: Collected Poems: 1974-2004
“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.” ThinkingKnowsWorldFirstsWellsMayLittlesBookEndsHardUseRememberFallBottomOpeningBitesKnivesEnd Of The WorldForksYou Think You Know Author:Rita Dove
“I didn't know writers could be real live people, because I never knew any writers.” PeopleKnowsRealBeing Real Author:Rita Dove
“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.” PeopleKnowsBlackWhiteLevelsRightsGrewKingsGrew UpCivil RightsAccomplishmentBlack And WhiteStatus QuoLutherCrowOhioHindsightAccelerateJim CrowChallenging Status QuoChallenging The Status Quo Author:Rita Dove
