![]() I BEGAN BY ASKING THEM TO COMMENT ON A POIGNANT QUOTE BY YET ANOTHER POET LAUREATE, KAY RYAN. SMITH ABOUT THE VALUE OF POETRY, THEIR WORK AS POETS LAUREATE, AND WHAT IT MEANS TO BE EDUCATORS AND FEMALE ARTISTS IN THE WORLD TODAY. WHAT FOLLOWS IS A CONVERSATION BETWEEN RITA DOVE AND TRACY K. PEOPLE OFTEN GRAVITATE TOWARDS POETRY TO MAKE SENSE OF TRAGEDY, PROCESS GRIEF, OR TO CAPTURE AND CELEBRATE LIFE. A POEM, LIKE INK ETCHED ONTO SKIN, IS A WAY TO MARK TIME, TO DOCUMENT EXPERIENCES BIG OR SMALL, TO TELL A STORY. I CHOSE TO LEAD WITH THOSE LINES BECAUSE THEY GET AT A KEY THEME FROM THEIR CONVERSATION-THE TRANSFORMATIVE POWER OF ART, IN THIS CASE POETRY AND MUSIC. SMITH IS THE CURRENT, OR 22 ND, POET LAUREATE AND SHE CARRIES ON DOVE’S LEGACY OF BRINGING POETRY TO THE PEOPLE.īEFORE THEY INTRODUCED THEMSELVES AT THE START, RITA DOVE READ AN EXCERPT FROM OF A NEW POEM CALLED “TRANSIT.” YOU CAN HEAR THAT POEM IN FULL ALONG WITH A NEW POEM BY TRACY K. THE POSITION HAS GROWN SIGNIFICANTLY OVER TIME, LARGELY THANKS TO HOW DOVE REDEFINED WHAT WAS POSSIBLE. AFTER THE POSITION TITLE CHANGED FROM CONSULTANT IN POETRY TO POET LAUREATE, DOVE BECAME THE FIRST “OFFICIAL” BLACK LAUREATE IN 1993. THE PRESITIGIOUS POST OF POET LAUREATE IS CHOSEN BY THE LIBRARIAN OF CONGRESS AND IN THAT ROLE ACTS AS A SORT OF CHIEF POET-IN-RESIDENCE FOR THE NATION. ![]() SMITH POETS AND PROFESSORS AT TOP UNIVERSITIES, THEY ARE BOTH PULITZER PRIZE-WINNING U.S. I am also a poet, and I direct the creative writing program at Princeton University.ĪDAM KAMPE: NOT ONLY ARE RITA DOVE AND TRACY K. My name is Rita Dove, and I identify myself as a poet, first and foremost, though I am also a commonwealth professor of English at the University of Virginia. Rita Dove : “Let it be said while in the midst of horror we fed on beauty,Īnd that, my love, is what sustained us.” – from “Transit” She noted to Dove: “I felt like there was a family that I could somehow find in the pages of those books, and I wanted to sound exactly like you.” Fittingly, Smith carries on Dove’s legacy of bringing poetry to the people through her own work in rural communities, and has recently been appointed to a second term. It was Dove’s work, along with that of Yusef Komunyakaa’s, that first gave Smith a sense of poetic kinship and sharpened her desire to be a poet. Smith is the current Poet Laureate and the 11th woman to be appointed to the prestigious post. Poet Stanley Plumly once remarked that Dove “changed the job description” and “created a sense of mission in the position.” ![]() The position has grown significantly in importance and reach over time, largely thanks to how Dove redefined what was possible. Dove, a two-time NEA Literature Fellow (19) and recipient of the National Medal of Arts in 2011, became the first official African-American Poet Laureate under the new title in 1993. The Library of Congress switched titles in 1986. Back then, the position was known as the Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress. Since 1937, the PLOTUS has acted as a sort of chief poet-in-residence for the nation. The Poet Laureate of the United States (PLOTUS, if you will) is a position chosen by the Librarian of Congress. They are also professors at top universities (Dove: University of Virginia, Smith: Princeton), and Pulitzer Prize-winning U.S. Smith share a few things in common beyond the fact that they are African-American female artists. ![]() Rita Dove (photo by Fred Viebahn) and Tracy K. ![]()
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