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Last night I went to see Rita Dove give a poetry reading at Swarthmore. I'd seen Ms. Dove before, when she gave the keynote speech at AWP a few years back, but I don't remember being really impressed with her then. Last night, however, she was awesome. It was (obviously) a much smaller venue, full of passionate undergrads--the reading was jointly sponsored by the campus literary review and by the African American student group. She read some poems that the kids who'd arranged the reading had requested, including "Parsley", which was about a massacre of Haitian field workers in the Dominican Republic by Trujillo back in the 1930s. She talked some about this poem--she told the story of what historically happened, and then the story of how she wrote it, which took her several years--and it was fascinating. (And, walking home after the reading, I overheard a student passionately describing the poem and the events to someone on her cell phone--education in action!)
Ms. Dove also read from her new book, Sonata Mulattica, which tells the story of a mixed-race virtuoso violinist named George Bridgetower who lived during the time of Beethoven, and to whom Beethoven actually dedicated a sonata, until the two fell out over a woman and Beethoven tore out the dedication in a rage. Really, really fascinating story. I love historically based poems. At the end of the reading, Ms. Dove did a Q&A where she was so thoughtful and responsive to the student questions. I really enjoyed the whole event.
One student asked Ms. Dove about her poem, "Chocolate", so she then read it for us. I fell in love, so here's the poem.
Chocolate
Velvet fruit, exquisite square
I hold up to sniff
between finger and thumb---
how you numb me
with your rich attentions!
If I don't eat you quickly,
you'll melt in my palm.
Pleasure seeker, if I let you
you'd liquefy everywhere.
Knotted smoke, dark punch
of earth and night and leaf,
for a taste of you
any woman would gladly
crumble to ruin.
Enough chatter: I am ready
to fall in love!
From American Smooth by Rita Dove published by W. W. Norton & Company 2004.
Ms. Dove also read from her new book, Sonata Mulattica, which tells the story of a mixed-race virtuoso violinist named George Bridgetower who lived during the time of Beethoven, and to whom Beethoven actually dedicated a sonata, until the two fell out over a woman and Beethoven tore out the dedication in a rage. Really, really fascinating story. I love historically based poems. At the end of the reading, Ms. Dove did a Q&A where she was so thoughtful and responsive to the student questions. I really enjoyed the whole event.
One student asked Ms. Dove about her poem, "Chocolate", so she then read it for us. I fell in love, so here's the poem.
Chocolate
Velvet fruit, exquisite square
I hold up to sniff
between finger and thumb---
how you numb me
with your rich attentions!
If I don't eat you quickly,
you'll melt in my palm.
Pleasure seeker, if I let you
you'd liquefy everywhere.
Knotted smoke, dark punch
of earth and night and leaf,
for a taste of you
any woman would gladly
crumble to ruin.
Enough chatter: I am ready
to fall in love!
From American Smooth by Rita Dove published by W. W. Norton & Company 2004.
