Have you ever heard a good joke? If youve ever heard someone just right, with the right pacing, then youre already on the way to poetry. Its about using words in very precise ways and using gesture. – Rita Dove

Instead of trying to come up and pontificate on what literature is, you need to talk with children, to teachers, and make sure they get poetry in the curriculum early. – Rita Dove

I try to show what it is about language and music that enthralls, because I think those are the two elements of poetry. – Rita Dove