Rita Dove: On the Bus with Rosa Parks
"So what if we were born up a creek and knocked flat with the paddle, if we ain't got a pot to piss in and nowhere to put it if we did? Our situation is intolerable, but what's worse is to sit here and do nothing. O yes. O mercy on our souls."
Those are the words of the silver-tongued poet Rita Dove, who took part in the Poetry Center's 60th anniversary gala in 1999 and read from her collection, On the Bus with Rosa Parks. The above passage comes from a poem titled, "Our Situation is Intolerable."
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