Editor's note: Poet Laureate Rita Dive gave an interview to the Information Bulletin before she completed her second term.
When Rita Dove began her tenure as the seventh Poet Laureate, she says she was given the opportunity to plan what she desired. So that's exactly what she did.
She planned the most creative, interesting literary seasons she could imagine.
In fact, she arranged the 1993-94 season so well that Dr. Billington asked her for an encore in 1994-95.
"Nothing was ever questioned. The marvelous thing about it was that when I came in, they said, 'We have these dates and what would you like to do?' At first this is very disconcerting, and you say, 'Surely they have their own ideas.' But I must say that they really allowed me free rein," she said.
To prove her point, for example, in March 1994, Ms. Dove held a poetry reading by a group of eighth grade Native Americans from Montana's Crow Nation.
"I remember one wonderful moment with the Crow children. They had one of their elders there, and they said that it is traditional to open any ceremony with a ritual smudging, which is burning of incense and blessing the corners of the room with an elk call. I said, 'It sounds great to me,'" she said, laughing.
However, on further reflection, it occurred to Ms. Dove that there could be a small matter of the smoke alarms being triggered. Library staff accommodated her and turned the alarms off, "after they saw that it would be smoke and it wasn't flames and they weren't sending out burnt offerings or anything."
Calling her appointment an "incredible honor," Ms. Dove explained the influence she believes her position has had.
"You can't underestimate the impact that just seeing someone in a position as this can do for all sorts of people. It makes such a powerful impact for an ethnic minority, any girl child, any young black male child, to see that it is possible for a black woman to represent all of the poets in the country."
Ms. Dove continued: "If they know that, they know that the possibility is there; the confidence that gives them to go ahead and realize that potential and to be the person that they are. To be themselves and not try to fit into someone else's idea of what they need to be to be professional," she said.
Ms. Dove has given the Library and its literary followers a lot to remember. A brief description of some of the activities she engineered in 1993-95 include:
She taught a class in spring 1994 in Albermarle County, Va., to a group of fifth graders via satellite. Students read their poetry as it was beamed across the country using this state of the art technology.
Ms. Dove has given numerous newspaper and magazine interviews and made just as many radio and television appearances, including a special guest spot on "Sesame Street."
She has given many poetry readings and lectures and planned several guest readings at the Library by other poets.
In an innovative February 1994 program, Ms. Dove brought together her friends in the music and literary worlds for an evening that combined jazz and poetry. As the poets read, the musicians accompanied them, unrehearsed.
At the end of her second term as poet laureate, Ms. Dove believes that her self-imposed mandate of broadening the possibilities of the post has been fulfilled. Planning the first year of literary activities at the Library was enjoyable, but, she soon realized, there were so many things she still wanted to do.
"I think about two-thirds of the way through the first year, when there were so many programs going on and so much excitement happening, I thought they might ask me to do a second term, so I began to think about whether I could do that," she said. "It's been good, and I'm glad I stayed for a second term. The Library has been very good about helping me with my own time for writing whenever I needed it."
As far Ms. Dove's career is concerned, many may ask if her writing style or outlook have changed as a result of her two-year tenure.
"I do know that a poem spoken at even the most pompous ceremony can change things. I've had several occasions where I've been asked to give a poem in a forum that I thought, "Oh, it's going to stick out,' and I found it actually to be the opposite; that it humanizes everything else around it. So that is one of the things about poetry in a public arena that I have learned." Poetry "helps us appreciate not only the surface of life, but the undercurrent. It makes us richer individuals and it isn't anything to be afraid of."
In her opinion, poetry has an undeserved reputation as not being for everybody. "If people can only come to poetry relaxed and without fear, then they'll discover wonderful things," she said.
Ms. Dove received the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for Thomas and Beulah, a collection of poems published in 1986, based on the lives of her grandparents. Other works include: The Yellow House on the Corner (1980); Museum (1983); Fifth Sunday, a collection of short stories (1985); Grace Notes (1989); Through the Ivory Gate, her first novel (1992); and Selected Poems (1993). A verse drama, The Darker Face of the Earth, was published last year. Her most recent book of poems, Mother Love, was just published by Norton.
Ms. Dove says part of her writing style is to work on something and put it away. "I'll leave poems in various stages of incompletion for a long time. It's sort of like mixing a stew or making a soup. You have to give it time to let the flavors mingle. I find myself adding a little here and taking out there. And then something happens and it tastes great -- I hope -- and then toss it up."
She explains how her poem "The Island Women of Paris" from Grace Notes came into being. "I had been in Paris and had put a note in my notebook about the art of staring, because I was really impressed by that difference. ... The ability to bear up under that appraisal was something I really admired in France. Those people did the best.
"The people who really knew how to stand there and say [as she tosses her head high in the air], 'Yes, you may look' were the women from the islands with their turbans and their caftans and their whole flair," she says, smiling.
Ms. Dove says there is no special place she must go to become motivated to write. "I feel sort of like a satellite dish. Life is out there if you pay attention to it. It's got incredible things to show you and tell you, which is one reason why I keep these notebooks. I write down what impressions I receive as I go through life. So motivation can come from anywhere."
Ms. Dove acknowledges that her husband, German novelist Fred Viebahn, and her 12-year-old daughter, Aviva, have encouraged her work. "It's so wonderful to be in a marriage where we can talk to one another about our work and understand. We show one another our work too, usually when it's near completion. My daughter likes to write short stories, but I think she wants to be a veterinarian."
What's next for Rita Dove?
She plans to get plenty of rest and continue work on two manuscripts of poetry. She also plans to write a book of poetry for youths and another novel.
She says she hopes she has opened the eyes of the next poets laureate to the unlimited ways to bring poetry to the world. Speaking about the satellite classroom poetry class she conducted, she said, "I did that mainly as a model. I'm just trying to set up notions that there are things that you can do without cheapening the art. Television can be an effective tool for bringing poetry across to people. "So I'm hoping more than anything else for the next poets laureate that they'll feel hope; that they can see that there's interest out there and all they've got to do is run with it."
