Poetry by Rita Dove

Biography of Rita Dove

Rita Dove was the youngest person and the first African-American ever named Poet Laureate of the United States. She held the position from 1993 to 1995. Dove was educated in Ohio, Germany and Iowa and first began teaching in the English department of the University of Arizona in 1981. In 1989 she took a faculty position with the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, and is currently a professor of English there. She published her first book of poems, The Yellow House on the Corner, in 1980, and in 1987 she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for her collection Thomas and Beulah. She has won numerous awards, grants, fellowships and honorary degrees, and is one of the
most celebrated poets of her generation. Dove has also published a collection of short stories, Fifth Sunday (1985) and a novel, Through the Ivory Gate (1992), and collaborated with composer John Williams on a piece for the 1999 Steven Spielberg documentary The Unfinished Journey. Her other books include Museum (1983), Mother Love (1995) and American Smooth (2004).

Picture from: http://www.narrativemagazine.com/authors/rita-dove

Biography from: http://www.infoplease.com/biography/var/ritadove.html

Interview about "On the Bus with Rosa Parks"

Poetry

My Mother Enters the Work Force

The path to ABC Business School
was paid for by a lucky sign:
Alterations, Qualified Seamstress Inquire Within.
Tested on Sleeves, hers
never puckered -- puffed or sleek,
Leg o' or Raglan --
they barely needed the damp cloth
to steam them perfect.

Those were the afternoons. Evenings
she took in piecework, the treadle machine
with its locomotive whir
traveling the lit path of the needle
through quicksand taffeta
or velvet deep as a forest.
And now and now sang the treadle,
I know, I know....

And then it was day again, all morning
at the office machines, their clack and chatter
another journey -- rougher,
that would go on forever
until she could break a hundred words
with no errors -- ah, and then

no more postponed groceries,
and that blue pair of shoes!

Analyzation

This poem emphasizes the work the mother did before actually earning a job. She had a natural talent because the “sleeves never puckered” and they “barely needed the damp cloth/ to steam them perfect.” The mother was so talented that she could make beautiful clothing out of “quicksand taffeta/ or velvet deep as forest.” The writer describes her mother’s thoughts including “I know, I know” which encourage her to persist to attain her goal of finishing “ABC Business School.”

The third paragraph describes her new business job “at the office machines” describing “their clack and chatter/another journey-rougher.”  She uses her determination and focus from the seamstress job to persevere in this corporate job which is hard to do as a mother. But once she reaches her goals, she release an “ah…and then…” as a sigh of relief and accomplishment.  During the envoi, the writer presents the “blue pair of shoes” as her mother’s reward for all her success and it represents all the work she has done in school, in the workforce, and as a mother.

Exit

Just when hope withers, the visa is granted.
The door opens to a street like in the movies,
clean of people, of cats; except it is your street
you are leaving. A visa has been granted,
"provisionally"-a fretful word.
The windows you have closed behind
you are turning pink, doing what they do
every dawn. Here it's gray. The door
to the taxicab waits. This suitcase,
the saddest object in the world.
Well, the world's open. And now through
the windshield the sky begins to blush
as you did when your mother told you
what it took to be a woman in this life.

Analyzation

This poem is mostly about change and transitions. The writer is dreaming about leaving and pursuing a life of wonder like “in the movies” because she isn’t satisfied with where she is living now. She imagines a world of possibilities, hopes and dreams. The town she is living in now is preventing her from fulfilling her potential. The feeling of jealousy is introduced as she claims “you are leaving.” She wants the “visa” that has been granted, a pass to leave. The house the person has left behind does not change even though the people around it are. The writer uses personification, claiming that the windows of the house “are turning pink, doing what they do every dawn.” The windows are a part of a routine that is not interrupted, unlike the person who has left who is beginning a new schedule for themselves.

A trope is used to describe the grief the writer is feeling, and she transfers it to the suitcase as it is “the saddest object in the world.” There is a major shift of tone in the poem from regret, jealousy, and sadness to hope after the optimistic statement that “the world’s open.” She realizes now the person had to leave in order fulfill their own potential. She recalls learning that it is a struggle "to be a woman in this life."

Used

The conspiracy's to make us thin.
Size threes are all the rage,
and skirts ballooning above
twinkling knees are every man-child's
preadolescent dream.
Tabula rasa. No slate's that clean--
We've earned the navels sunk in
grief when the last child emptied us
of their brief interior light.
Our muscles say
We have been used.

Have you ever tried silk sheets?
I did, persuaded by postnatal dread
and a Macy's clerk to bargain
for more zip.

We couldn't hang on, slipped to
the floor and by morning the quilts
had slid off, too. Enough of guilt--
It's hard work staying cool.

Analyzation
This poem discusses the social pressures of body image women face and limited ways to attain it. Women are confined to "size threes" in order to fit all the popular fashion styles. They want to fit into these sizes, and the requirements of society, in order to fit "every man-child's pre-adolescent dream." She attests that we know better and "tabula rasa" isn't a good excuse for our ignorance. The caesura is the pause of reflection on her statement, realizing the truth within it. Women work hard through exercise, diet, and other means in order to achieve their " navels sunk in." Their children who they have sacrificed so much for have "emptied" them in every possible way. Resulting in their bodies telling their stories of struggle and sacrifice for their children. They also allow the sales people of theses stereotypical products to use them. but at the end of the end of the day, all the fake feelings and personas women try to portray "had slid off too." The truth of the personalities will always persevere because "its hard staying cool." But this is only from the point of view of those who are fully aware of the mold they are trying to fit, while others are fooled into thinking they created it.

DayStar

She wanted a little room for thinking:
but she saw diapers steaming
on the line,
A doll slumped behind the door.
So she lugged a chair behind
the garage to sit out the
children's naps

Sometimes there were things to watch--
the pinched armor of a vanished cricket,
a floating maple leaf.

Other days she stared until she
was assured when she closed
her eyes she'd only see her own
vivid blood.

She had an hour, at best,
before Liza appeared pouting from
the top of the stairs.

And just what was mother doing
out back with the field mice?
Why, building a palace.

Later that night when Thomas
rolled over and lurched into her,

She would open her eyes
and think of the place that was hers
for an hour--where she was nothing,
pure nothing, in the middle of the day

Analyzation
This poem describes the feeling of entrapment that is paired with motherhood. The women is overwhelmed by her duties involving "steaming diapers" and all she desires is time alone, the one thing that seems impossible to attain. The easiest wait to accomplish independence is to "[lug] a chair behind the door." The author use a caesura when feeling guilty about watching "the pinched armor of a vanished cricket" rather than her children. She almost fears the time when she is watching over her children; it is perceived as a ticking time bomb until "Liza appears at the top of the stairs pouting." She escapes to her own fantasy land where she is "building a palace" with field mice. She envies the carefree lifestyle her children have and emulates their actions but has to do so in private because it is irresponsible. Fantasizes about that "hour--where she was nothing" until she can experience it once again. The metaphor she wishes she could be and the role she watches her children fulfill the other 23 hours of the day.

Hade's Pitch

If I could just touch your ankle,
he whispers, there on the outside,
above the bone-- leans closer,
breath of lime and peppers--
I know I could make love to you .
She considers this, secretly thrilled,
though she wasn't quite sure what
he meant. He was good with words,
words that went straight to the liver.

Was she falling for him out of sheer
boredom-- cooped up in this
anything-but-humble dive, stone
gargoyles leering and brocade
drapes licked with fire?
Her ankle burns where he described it.

She sighs just as her mother
aboveground stumbles, is caught
by the dredlock--bereft in an instant--
while the Great Man drives home
his desire.

Analyzation
This poem is suspenseful while following Rita Dove's reoccurring theme of loss of innocence. The author pursues the approach of stream of consciousness, stating thoughts, actions and dialogs of the story. The girl whose perspective the story is told from, doesn't share her responses in words, but through caesuras, usually occurring during hesitations. She doubts herself or perhaps him after he claims to be able to "make love" to her. There is the possibility of shame as she is "secretly thrilled," indicating she isn't expressing this emotion. Her innocence is revealed as she "wasn't quite sure what he meant," indicating that she is a younger girl having her first sexual experience with an experienced male who was "good with words." she is sure why she is interested or attracted to him which is expressed in a questioning enjambment. "Her ankle is burning where he described it," communicating that her body does want to make love. She maybe be in a preoccupied family as "her mother aboveground stumbles" and allows the man to have his way because she may not be able to find a reason to oppose.

Adolescence I

In water-heavy nights behind grandmother's porch
We knelt in the tickling grass and whispered:
Linda's face hung before us, pale as a pecan,
And it grew wise as she said:
     "A boy's lips are soft,
     As soft as baby's skin."
The air closed over her words.
A firefly whirred in the air, and in the distance
I could hear streetlamps ping
Into miniature suns
Against a feathery sky.

Analyzation

The author beings this poem with a thick layer of comfort as she describes the “water-heavy nights” she spent with her family during the summer on her grandmother’s porch.  The time of the year is indicative of summer because of the thick moisture in the year, maybe in the south. Personification is used to describe “the tickling” grass on the children’s’ bodies as they are up late at night chatting. Linda could be an older white girl, sharing her sexual experience with the younger black children which is noted as she is described as “pale as a pecan” and why is isn’t included in the “we.”

            They are intrigued by her story she relates intimate kisses to a “baby’s skin”, something they are familiar with. The last envoi is expressed through an enjambment illuminating the simple, yet detailed thoughts of a young child, and how precious these thoughts are. This poem is the beginning of the process of loss of innocence, which is further analyzed throughout this series of poems about the fragility of adolescence.

 Adolescence II

Although it is night,
I sit in the bathroom, waiting.
Sweat prickles behind my knees,
the baby-breasts are alert.
Venetian blinds slice up the moon;
the tiles quiver in pale strips.

Then they come, the three seal men
with eyes as round As dinner plates
and eyelashes like sharpened tines.
They bring the scent of licorice.
One sits in the washbowl,

One on the bathtub edge;
one leans against the door.
"Can you feel it yet?" they whisper.
I don't know what to say, again.
They chuckle,

Patting their sleek bodies with
their hands.
"Well, maybe next time."
And they rise, Glittering like pools
of ink under moonlight,

And vanish. I clutch at the
ragged holes
They leave behind, here at
the edge of darkness.

Night rests like a ball of fur
on my tongue.

Analyzation

This is certainly a poem of nervous apprehension and the continuing theme of loss of innocence from the first adolescence poem. This is an unusual situation for her because the first stanza indicates that she usually doing something else during the night, most likely sleeping because she is young with her “baby-breasts” even though she identifies them as “the” instead of claiming ownership which indicates she could be having an outer body experience. The reoccurring device of personification appears in describing her observations that the “Venetian blind slice up the moon.” This is descriptive of the evil of the house is destroying an essential piece of a beautiful night sky.

The second stanza is very upsetting as it presents disturbing imagery. After she has been “waiting” for quite some time, there are “three seal men” coming into the bathroom “with eyes as round as dinner plates,” indicating that they are greedy and ready to devour her. They are all positioned at different locations in the bathroom, which makes it impossible for her to escape. The men ask if she “can feel it yet” is upsetting as “they chuckle” at her confusion. She finds herself not knowing what to say because she is inexperienced and innocent. The mention of “their sleek bodies” indicates that they are a young group of men, taking advantage of an innocent girl. The only the girl is sure of is “the ragged hold they [left] behind.” The holes they left are in her tranquility, peace of mind, and innocence.                                                                                                                                        

 Adolescence III

With Dad gone, Mom and I worked

The dusky rows of tomatoes.

As they glowed orange in sunlight

And rotted in shadows, I too

Grew orange and softer, swelling out

Starched cotton slips.

The texture of twilight made me think of

Lengths of Dotted Swiss.  In my room

I wrapped scarred knees in dresses

That once went to big-band dances;

I baptized my earlobes with rosewater.

Along the window-sill, the lipstick stubs

Glittered in their steel shells.

Looking out at the rows of clay

And chicken manure, I dreamed how it would happen;

He would meet me by the blue spruce,

A carnation over his heart, saying,

"I have come for you, Madam;

I have loved you in my dreams."

At his touch, the scabs would fall away.

Over his shoulder, I see my father coming toward us:

He carries his tears in a bowl,

And blood hangs in the pine-soaked air. '

Analyzation

This last poem in the series of adolescence, speaks about the sacrifices, resilience, and dreams of a young women and identifying the transition into womanhood, certainty categorizing it as a narrative poem. The first stanza introduces her family situation is “Dad gone, Mom and I worked.” The first line is structured as cause and affect; because the father is gone her and her mother have to work. They may not have many of the luxuries that other mother and daughters do because they do not have a man to support them financially so they are positioned to sacrifice those luxuries. The father is only mentioned twice because she is not dwelling on what she lost rather than what she has to do; showcasing her resilience she has seemed to have learned from her mother. She mentions her “wrapped scarred knees in dresses” from working hard in the fields. They are reminders of why she works so hard and how she achieves her goals. The “big-band dances” are another sacrifice she makes in order to pursue this lifestyle that she has with her mother. It can be assumed that her father left recently because this is a new sacrifice she has made.

The last stanza is where she expresses her dream of finding love; the cliché desire to find her knight in shining armor. The dream portion of the poem comes last because it is in the back of her mind and the bottom of her priority list. Pursuing these wishes comes second to her responsibilities she has to her family. She has to look past “the rows of clay and chicken manure” to even identify her dreams. She desires a man who has the power to love her and renew her heart so well that “the scabs would fall away.” She believes that after she finds this healing man, that her father would be able to return carrying “his tears in a bowl” in order to show her how much pain he has been in as well. The lover serves as a foil for the father, displaying all the qualities and capabilities that she wished he portrayed.