Rita Dove (b. 1952)
The second African-American woman to be named Poet Laureate of the United States, and only the second to win a Pulitzer Prize for poetry (Thomas and Beulah, 1987), Rita Dove (1952—) has achieved a great deal in a career not yet three-decades old. Her multi-layered poems dramatize the stories of individuals both living and dead against the backdrop of larger historical forces.
POEMS
Banneker
Flirtation
Reverie in Open Air
Testimonial
The Secret Garden