Rita Dove

For years, I had heard about the lack of interest in literature in the U.S. and I had complained about it. I failed to understand how people could fail to be moved by art. ↗

— Rita Dove

#art #complained #could #fail #failed

Going to the library was the one place we got to go without asking for permission. And they let us choose what we wanted to read. It was a feeling of having a book be mine entirely. ↗

— Rita Dove

#book #choose #entirely #feeling #go

I believe people may have a predisposition for artistic creativity. It doesn't mean they're going to make it. ↗

— Rita Dove

#believe #creativity #going #i #i believe

I carry a notebook with me everywhere. But that's only the first step. ↗

— Rita Dove

#everywhere #first #first step #i #me

Being true to yourself really means being true to all the complexities of the human spirit. ↗

— Rita Dove

#complexities #human #human spirit #means #really

I have a high guilt quotient. A poem can go through as many as 50 or 60 drafts. It can take from a day to two years-or longer. ↗

— Rita Dove

#drafts #go #guilt #high #i

I keep the drafts of each poem in color-coded folders. I pick up the folders according to how I feel about that color that day. ↗

— Rita Dove

#according #color #day #drafts #each

I loved to read, but I always thought that the dream was too far away. The person who had written the book was a god, it wasn't a person. ↗

— Rita Dove

#away #book #dream #far #far away

I prefer to explore the most intimate moments, the smaller, crystallized details we all hinge our lives on. ↗

— Rita Dove

#details #explore #hinge #i #intimate

You have to imagine it possible before you can see something. You can have the evidence right in front of you, but if you can't imagine something that has never existed before, it's impossible. ↗

— Rita Dove

#before #evidence #existed #front #imagine