Rita Dove

[domradave]

There are 23 poems in the section, "Mandolin", in Dove's book, THOMAS AND BEULAH (1986). The whole book is reprinted in her COLLECTED POEMS: 1974-2004.
From the poem, "Variation On Pain":

"He lay on the bunk, mandolin
In his arms. Two strings
For each note and seventeen
Frets; ridged sound
Humming beneath calloused
Fingertips."

One of the book review writers for the New York Times thinks Dove should get a Nobel Prize for Literature.

[Toycona]

She's one of our great American poets, serving as United States poet laureate in 1992 and special poetry consultant to the Library of Congress from 1993-95. She has also won a Pulitzer Prize for her poetry. I've read and taught a lot of her poetry over the years, but I hadn't encountered that one. Thanks for sharing!

[Jim Garber]

She is the current poetry editor for the NY Times magazine which features a poem each week. She has been picking some very nice and thoughtful ones.