If our children are unable to voice what they mean, no one will know how they feel. If they can’t imagine a different world, they are stumbling through a darkness made all the more sinister by its lack of reference points. For a young person growing up in America’s alienated neighborhoods, there can be no greater empowerment than to dare to speak from the heart — and then to discover that one is not alone in ones feelings.

W. From 1993–1995 Rita Dove served as Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress. She received the 1987 Pulitzer Prize in poetry and was named Poet Laureate of the United States by the Librarian of Congress an office Rita Dove held from 1993 to 1995.

Rita Frances Dove (born August 28 1952) is an American poet and author. Dove also received an appointment as "special consultant in poetry" for the Library of Congress's bicentennial year from 1999–2000. Dove is the second African American to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1987 and Rita Dove served as the Poet Laureate of Virginia from 2004–2006.