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"Ta Ta Cha Cha"

By Rita DovePosted Tuesday, Nov. 23, 2004, at 7:36 AM ET

Listen to Rita Dove reading this poem.

One, two—no, five doves
scatter before a wingtip's
distracted tread:
Lost, lost, they coo, and
they're probably right:
It's Venice, I'm American,
besandaled and backpacked,
sunk in a bowl of sky
trimmed with marbled statuary
(slate, snow, ash)—
a dazed array, dipped
in the moon's cold palette.

Who, you? No. But here,
lost from a wing, drifts
one pale, italicized
answer. I pick it up
as the bold shoe
continues conversation
(one two) with its mate,
and the nearest scavenger
skips three times
to the side, bobs to pluck
his crackerjack prize, a child's
dropped gelato cone.

Tip, tap: early warning code
for afternoon rain. Gray
vagabond, buffoon messenger
for grounded lovers—where to?
Teach me this dance
you make, snatching a sweet
from the path of a man
who because he knows
where he's headed, walks
without seeing, face hidden
by a dirty wingspan
of the daily news.

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Rita Dove served as poet laureate of the United States from 1993 to 1995; currently she is the poet laureate of Virginia. Among her numerous awards are the 1987 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry and a 1996 National Humanities Medal. Her latest poetry collection, American Smooth, was published in September 2004.

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