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Quote by Rita Dove

“I think that you certainly don't have to be aged and travel the world to write a poem.”

Author

Rita Dove is an American poet born on August 28, 1952. Her works are known for their profound social insight and emotional expression, having won numerous awards including the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. more

“If I sing "you broke my heart, you left me flat," everyone knows exactly what that means - they know the story. But if I sing a line that's plaintive or wailing, people can experience their own set of emotions and their own story. Each of us might give that phrase a different meaning. It's open to interpretation, and one song becomes a thousand songs. I love that.”

People Ifs Knows Giving Heart Mean Different Stories Might Song Left Lines Emotion My Heart Thousand Broke Phrases Flats Interpretation Wailing Broke My Heart Different Meanings You Left Me

Author:Bobby McFerrin

“Inviting audiences to open up and hear things differently is an important part of what I do. But I still love to sing songs with words, too.”

Stills Important Song Audience Inviting

Author:Bobby McFerrin

“Music is still part of my spiritual life. Sometimes I sing my prayers. When I get audiences singing, I hope I'm helping them feel connected to something beyond themselves.”

Feels Stills Sometimes Helping Spiritual Prayer Audience Music Is Singing Connected Spiritual Life

Author:Bobby McFerrin

“Improvisation means coming to the situation without rigid expectations or preconceptions. The key to improvisation is motion — you keep going forward, fearful or not, living from moment to moment. That’s how life is.”

Mean Moments Life Is Situation Keys Expectations Keep Going Fearful Improvisation Preconceptions

Author:Bobby McFerrin

“Remembering that life can be full of surprises is useful in any part of your life. You can try a new way of singing a song you’ve performed for years, a new way of showing your family your love for them, or a new recipe. Don’t just play the licks you know. We’re all improvising all the time — it’s good to recognize that and embrace it.”

Knows Way Trying Years Play Remember Song Singing Embrace Surprise Our Family New Ways Recipes Improvising

Author:Bobby McFerrin

“In fact, sometimes traveling the world is a way of not writing a poem, but it's the quality of experience. It's being able to experience something and when you begin to write about it be able to apply the tools that you need for writing.”

World Way Needs Writing Sometimes Facts Able Quality Tools Time Travel

Author:Rita Dove

“I've always felt that the poems I've written which have historical context are hopefully not just simply plucking something out of history and saying great, let's write about that. In every case what has happened is that I've become fascinated or haunted by something and couldn't shake it.”

Writing Felt Cases Written Happened Historical Hopefully Shakes Fascinated Historical Context Hopefully Not

Author: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.”

Thinking Way Has Beens Important Might School Certain White Taught Aspect Males Privilege African American Might Have Been

Author:Rita Dove

Quote by Rita Dove

Author

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