NPM 50 State Tour: Ohio

Ohio does not have a poet laureate. Never has.

That makes me cranky. Especially when the Buckeye State proudly claims former U.S. Poet Laureate Rita Dove as one of its own. No wonder she wants to take a vacation.

A writing prompt follows the poem.

Vacation
by Rita Dove
I love the hour before takeoff, that stretch of no time, no home but the gray vinyl seats linked like unfolding paper dolls. Soon we shall be summoned to the gate, soon enough there’ll be the clumsy procedure of row numbers and perforated stubs—but for now I can look at these ragtag nuclear families with their cooing and bickering or the heeled bachelorette trying to ignore a baby’s wail and the baby’s exhausted mother waiting to be called up early while the athlete, one monstrous hand asleep on his duffel bag, listens, perched like a seal trained for the plunge. The rest of the poem is here.   Look for Ohio on my Wall of Shame tomorrow, 4/15. I will be urging Ohioans, on Tax Day, to demand their poetic rights and get themselves a poet laureate.   But first, we'll visit Louisiana.   While we're traveling south, try this writing prompt based on Dove's poem.     Writing prompt: In the poem "Vacation," by Rita Dove, the poet juxtaposes our positive connotations about the title word, "vacation," with reality.   Try it out. Choose a word for your title about which readers will have  strong assumptions, beliefs and feelings. Use observed details to show that those connotations don't jibe with reality.