We are from the world, a condensation of cultures in a large and generous nation. We re a hyphenated people, blends and shades. We speak our own versions of Spanish and Tagalog and Cantonese and French, praise the land in Tlingit and Cherokee, watch TV shows in Hmong and Japanese. We are from the world, a condensation of cultures in a large and generous nation. We come together in the way that a poem is created.
Unaccustomed ideas intermarry, unrelated images create a new vision.
All based in language, in thought made real, in the invisible connecting web of words, deep in the American grain. A former rodeo cowboy, now a renowned cowboy poet, he twists language like a river, sails the river with his voice. Poet Laureate, 1993-5, RITA DOVE acknowledges the need to use all media necessary to help poetry find its way into the daily life of the American people. She won a Pulitzer for her poetry narrative, loosely based on the lives of her grandparents, Thomas and Beulah, and teaches at the University of Virginia. She is a Grand Slam Champ at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe and in 1993 was crowned National Haiku Slam Champ.