Here in one volume is a selection of the extraordinary poems of Rita Dove, who, as the nation's Poet Laureate from 1993 to 1995, brought poetry into the lives of millions of people. Along with a new introduction and poem,Selected Poemscomprises Dove's collectionsThe Yellow House on the Corner, which includes a group of poems devoted to the themes of slavery and freedom;Museum, intimate ruminations on home and the world; and finally,Thomas and Beulah, winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 1987, a verse cycle loosely based on her grandparents' lives. Precisely yet intensely felt, resonant with the voices of ordinary people, Rita Dove'sSelected Poemsis marked by lyric intensity and compassionate storytelling.

Riat Dove, Poet Laureate of the United States from 1993 to 1995, was born and raised in Akron, Ohio. She has published the novel <b>Through the Ivory Gate</b>, a collection of stories, a verse drama, a book of essays and five books of poetry, among them <b>Thomas and Beulah</b>, which was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1987. The recipient of numerous literary fellowships and awards, she is Commonwealth Professor of English at the University of Virginia and lives near Charlottesville with her husband, Fred Viebahn, and their daughter, Aviva.

Introduction

xix

Rita Dove

THE YELLOW HOUSE ON THE CORNER

I

This Life

4

(1)

The Bird Frau

5

(1)

Robert Schumann, Or: Musical Genius Begins with Affliction

6

(1)

Happenstance

7

(1)

Small Town

8

(1)

The Snow King

9

(1)

Sightseeing

10

(2)

Upon Meeting Don L. Lee, In a Dream

12

(1)

``Teach Us to Number Our Days''

13

(1)

Nigger Song: An Odyssey

14

(2)

II

Five Elephants

16

(1)

Geometry

17

(1)

Champagne

18

(1)

Night Watch

19

(1)

The Secret Garden

20

(8)

A Suite for Augustus

1963

21

(1)

D.C.

22

(1)

Planning the Perfect Evening

23

(1)

Augustus Observes the Sunset

24

(1)

Wake

25

(1)

Back

26

(2)

III

Belinda's Petition

28

(1)

The House Slave

29

(1)

David Walker (1785-1830)

30

(1)

The Abduction

31

(1)

The Transport of Slaves From Maryland to Mississippi

32

(2)

Pamela

34

(1)

Someone's Blood

35

(1)

Cholera

36

(2)

The Slave's Critique of Practical Reason

38

(2)

Kentucky, 1833

40

(2)

IV

Adolescence---I

42

(1)

Adolescence---II

43

(1)

Adolescence---III

44

(1)

The Boast

45

(1)

The Kadava Kumbis Devise a Way to Marry for Love

46

(1)

Spy

47

(1)

First Kiss

48

(1)

Then Came Flowers

49

(1)

Pearls

50

(1)

Nexus

51

(3)

V

Notes from a Tunisian Journal

54

(1)

The Sahara Bus Trip

55

(2)

For Kazuko

57

(1)

Beauty and the Beast

58

(1)

His Shirt

59

(2)

Great Uncle Beefheart

61

(1)

The Son

62

(1)

Corduroy Road

63

(1)

O

64

(5)

MUSEUM

I The Hill Has Something to Say

The Fish in the Stone

69

(1)

The Ants of Argos

70

(1)

Pithos

71

(1)

Nestor's Bathtub

72

(2)

The Hill Has Something to Say

74

(2)

The Copper Beech

76

(1)

Tou Wan Speaks to Her Husband, Liu Sheng

77

(2)

Catherine of Alexandria

79

(1)

Catherine of Siena

80

(1)

Receiving the Stigmata

81

(1)

Boccaccio: The Plague Years

82

(1)

Fiammetta Breaks Her Peace

83

(4)

II In the Bulrush

November for Beginners

87

(1)

Reading Holderlin on the Patio with the Aid of a Dictionary

88

(1)

Shakespeare Say

89

(3)

Three Days of Forest, a River, Free

92

(1)

Banneker

93

(2)

In the Bulrush

95

(1)

Delft

96

(1)

Ike

97

(1)

Agosta the Winged Man and Rasha the Black Dove

98

(3)

At the German Writers Conference in Munich

101

(4)

III My Father's Telescope

Grape Sherbet

105

(1)

Roses

106

(2)

Sunday Night at Grandfather's

108

(1)

Centipede

109

(1)

My Father's Telescope

110

(1)

Song. Summer

111

(1)

Anti-Father

112

(2)

To Bed

114

(1)

A Father out Walking on the Lawn

115

(4)

IV Primer for the Nuclear Age

The Sailor in Africa

119

(5)

Early Morning on the Tel Aviv-Haifa Freeway

124

(1)

Why I Turned Vegetarian

125

(1)

Eastern European Eclogues

126

(2)

Flirtation

128

(1)

Exeunt the Viols

129

(1)

The Left-Handed Cellist

130

(1)

Lines Muttered in Sleep

131

(1)

Primer for the Nuclear Age

132

(1)

Parsley

133

(8)

Notes

136

(5)

THOMAS AND BEULAH

I Mandolin

The Event

141

(2)

Variation on Pain

143

(1)

Jiving

144

(1)

Straw Hat

145

(1)

Courtship

146

(2)

Refrain

148

(2)

Variation on Guilt

150

(1)

Nothing Down

151

(3)

The Zeppelin Factory

154

(2)

Under the Viaduct, 1932

156

(1)

Lightnin' Blues

157

(1)

Compendium

158

(1)

Definition in the Face of Unnamed Fury

159

(1)

Aircraft

160

(1)

Aurora Borealis

161

(1)

Variation on Gaining a Son

162

(1)

One Volume Missing

163

(1)

The Charm

164

(1)

Gospel

165

(2)

Roast Possum

167

(2)

The Stroke

169

(1)

The Satisfaction Coal Company

170

(2)

Thomas at the Wheel

172

(3)

II Canary in Bloom

Taking in Wash

175

(1)

Magic

176

(1)

Courtship, Diligence

177

(1)

Promises

178

(1)

Dusting

179

(2)

A Hill of Beans

181

(2)

Weathering Out

183

(2)

Motherhood

185

(1)

Anniversary

186

(1)

The House on Bishop Street

187

(1)

Daystar

188

(1)

Obedience

189

(1)

The Great Palaces of Versailles

190

(2)

Pomade

192

(2)

Headdress

194

(1)

Sunday Greens

195

(1)

Recovery

196

(1)

Nightmare

197

(1)

Wingfoot Lake

198

(2)

Company

200

(1)

The Oriental Ballerina

201

(2)

Chronology

203

(2)

Index of Titles

205

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The Secret Garden

I was ill, lying on my bed of old papers,
when you came with white rabbits in your arms;
and the doves scattered upwards, flying to mothers,
and the snails sighed under their baggage of stone . . .

Now your tongue grows like celery between us;
Because of our love-cries, cabbage darkens in its nest;
the cauliflower thinks of her pale, plump children
and turns greenish-white in a light like the ocean's.

I was sick, fainting in the smell of teabags,
when you came with tomatoes, a good poetry.
I am being wooed. I am being conquered
by a cliff of limestone that leaves chalk on my breasts.

Excerpted from Selected Poems by Rita Dove
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.