Friday, February 22, 2008

Celebrating Rosa Parks's Courage and Self-Determination as Captured by Rita Dove

Rosa
by Rita Dove
from "on the bus with Rosa Parks" book


How she sat there,
the time right inside a place
so wrong it was ready.

That trim name with
its dream of a bench
to rest on. Her sensible coat.

Doing nothing was the doing:
the clean flame of her gaze
carved by a camera flash.

How she stood up
when they bent down to retrieve
her purse. That courtesy.