Rita Dove: Exit

Just when hope withers, the visa is granted. 

The door opens to a street like in the movies, 

clean of people, of cats; except it is your street 

you are leaving. A visa has been granted, 

"provisionally"-a fretful word. 

The windows you have closed behind 

you are turning pink, doing what they do 

every dawn. Here it's gray. The door 

to the taxicab waits. This suitcase, 

the saddest object in the world. 

Well, the world's open. And now through 

the windshield the sky begins to blush 

as you did when your mother told you 

what it took to be a woman in this life.

Symbolism for "New Beginnings" in Zibu

 

Commentary 

I don't know why but I see to understand contemporary poets better than classical poets. I also know how to break down the poems better also. To start off the theme of this poem is a new beginning. The speaker is a scared and apprehensive young lady, who I believe was Dove when she was younger. This sonnet starts off by telling us that the young girl is ready to move on, "the visa is granted."  She uses similes to show how she felt alone when she first began her new beginning. She goes back and use repetition reminding her that she is ready for this new beginning( well don't we all as we are young). She uses imagery to show the pathway to this journey(new beginning), she states how what was once nice became sad "the windows....its gray." As she is about to leave she calls "this suitcase the saddest object..", this symbolize her memories and past being packed becoming forgotten. Despite how sad this process is she reminds herself that the world is open to new and better opportunities. As she in the car Dove uses personification "the sky begins to blush...," I believe that meant that she world is waiting for her and she is ready to become a women as her mother had said. 

This poem was fairly easy to interpret. I loved the way Dove used rhetorical devices  just to express a new beginning in the eyes of a women.