Rachel Zucker talks with Rita Dove, former Poet Laureate, winner of the Pulitzer Prize, author of more than 15 books and University of Virginia professor about political poetry, creative writing programs, the usefulness of prosody, form as ‘a talisman against disintegration,’ the public intimacy of social media, her poem ‘Parsley,’ audience, code switching, why some poems are hard to read, blackness and other people’s expectations of her as a black woman, getting over the Iowa voice, narrative poetry, her book Thomas and Beulah, the myth of Persephone, Trump, motherhood, marriage, slavery, freedom, why she moved to Charlottesville, Virginia, Thomas Jefferson, being a musician and a ballroom dancer, the solace of rhyme, and embracing change.
EXTRA MATERIALS FOR EPISODE 27Books by Rita DoveCollected Poems: 1974-2004 (W.W. Norton, 2016)
Sonata Mulattica (W. W. Norton, 2010)
American Smooth (W. W. Norton, 2006)
The Darker Face of the Earth (Story Line Press, 2000)
On the Bus with Rosa Parks (W. W. Norton, 2000)
Mother Love (W. W. Norton, 1996)
Thomas and Beulah (Carnegie Mellon, 1996)
Through the Ivory Gate (Vintage, 1993)
Selected Poems (Vintage, 1993)
Museum (Carnegie Mellon, 1992)
Grace Notes (W. W. Norton, 1991)
Fifth Sunday (Callaloo, 1990)
The Yellow House on the Corner (Carnegie Mellon, 1989)
Books and Other Authors Mentioned in the EpisodeJefferson’s Sons by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley (Puffin Books, 2013)
Starting Today: 100 Poems for Obama’s First 100 Days (University of Iowa Press, 2010)
A Poet’s Glossary by Edward HIrsch (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2014)
The Making of a Poem: A Norton Anthology of Poetic Forms (W. W. Norton, 2001)
Gunter Grass
Laurel Snyder
The University of Virginia MFA program — Charles Wright, Gregory Orr, Lisa Russ Spaar, Paul Guest, Debra Nystrom
Rachel Zucker’s Eating in the Underworld (Wesleyan, 2003)
The Reaper Essays by Mark Jarman (Story Line Press, 1996)
Renga for Obama (organized by Major Jackson)
Tanks and the Bangas’ website and their Tiny Desk performance
Other Relevant LinksRita Dove’s poem “Parsley”
Iowa Writers’ Workshop
Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello
Ballroom dancing
Episode 121: Fred Moten and Ronaldo Wilson - Part 2
Episode 120: Fred Moten and Ronaldo V. Wilson
Episode 119: Eugenia Leigh's Bianca (KTCO feed drop)
Episode 118: Laurel Snyder
Episode 117: Charif Shanahan & Safia Elhillo with Isaac Ginsberg Miller
Episode 116: The Gathered Congregation
Episode 115: Moheb Soliman
Episode 114: Live & Embodied
113: Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
Episode 112: Gabrielle Octavia Rucker with V Conaty
Episode 111: The Confessional Episode
Episode 110: The Poetics of Wrongness
Episode 109: Joy Harjo
Episode 108: Saeed Jones
Episode 107: Eileen Myles
Episode 106: S. Yarberry with V Conaty
Episode 105: Carl Phillips
Episode 104: The Critical Response Process with Liz Lerman & John Borstel
Episode 103: Cody-Rose Clevidence with Valentine Conaty
Episode 102: Rebekah Wolkstein
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