Weekly Quotes 28 Aug - 3 Sep

"If we're going to solve the problems of the world, we have to learn how to talk to one another. Poetry is the language at its essence. It's the bones and the skeleton of the language. It teaches you, if nothing else, how to choose your words." - Rita Dove
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Today is Rita Dove's birthday. Today's Writer's Almanac notes that she excelled in school and so her parents assumed that she would go on to become a doctor or lawyer. When she announced she wanted to be a poet, they were concerned. She said, "[My father] swallowed once and said, 'Well, I've never understood poetry, so don't be upset if I don't read it.'" Her teachers at college told her that she was throwing her education away if she didn't study something more practical.

Her collection Thomas and Beulah (1986) was based loosely on her grandparents; it was awarded the Pulitzer for poetry, and she became the second African-American poet to win the prize. She was also the first African-American poet laureate.

She told a Women in the Arts interviewer: "I've always been obsessed by the voices that are not normally heard. I think it comes from the women I knew as a child, the women in the kitchen who told the best stories. They knew how the world worked, about human nature, and they were wise, are wise."
Thanks to Laurie Perry Vaughen, posted on 28 Aug 2011

Larry thanks a lot, you know this is motivating!
I loved how inspiring, guess she got what she always wanted! :]

And the quotation, just as amazing...very true !
Indeed teaches you how to choose your words..
I loved it.

Thanks Larry

I'm strong believer that good literacy promotes good thinking, communication and self-understanding, which promotes a better way of living and getting along. I like that quote a lot, even though I don't think writing poetry is the most organic pastime.