America's Book Club with Rita Dove on How to Become a Poet

David Rubenstein: "So let me ask you for somebody that wants to be a poet. Somebody is watching and says, look, I have some hidden talent. My parents didn't really know it. My classmates didn't know it. But I really, in my inner circle says, I want to write and I want to express myself in poetry. What would you say is the skill set that would enable somebody actually be good at it? And if somebody isn't yet good at it, what's what should they study or learn to be able to be good at it?

Rita Dove: "Yeah. Well, the first thing I would ask of them or ask them, it's do you read? Do you love poetry? Not just do you have a story to tell, but can you hear other people's stories as well? And if they don't, or if they haven't that skill set yet? Then I say read, read, read, read, read everything. Read everything. Find out what makes you, you know, what makes you thrill. And that's the first thing you do when they do that then the proper humility might have set in, but also a kind of attuning to the fact that the way to tell a story as a poet, or the way to convey and emotion as a poet is also to engage the entire body. So that means how is your mouth forming when you say a word? Do you choose a word like bleak, or do you choose a word like dreary? They do something different, and part of that is the sound of it. Part of it is the way it comes into your mouth. So if you read and you read sometimes to yourself or aloud, you get that feeling. That's the first thing they have to write."

SUNDAYAmerica's Book Club with Rita Dove 6pm ET on CSPAN

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