Cozy Apologia By Rita Dove Summary

The poem “Cozy Apologia” by Rita Dove, explores the idea of love, and modern routine, while alluding to the disastrous hurricane Floyd of 1999. This poem was written for her husband, Fred, as mentioned after the title of the poem. In the first stanza of this poem, Rita Dove uses imagery to display her immense love for her husband. Dove writes, “This lamp, the wind-still rain, the glossy blue/ My pen exudes” (Dove 2-3). The imagery in these two lines represent items and things that remind Dove of her husband. She says everything makes her think of him, and in these two lines we can see that even just a lamp, or the ink from her pen bring her thoughts of her husband. Her true love for Fred is shown through this. The second stanza, Rita Dove starts to explain how a hurricane brought back memories of her teenage relationships.

This hurricane brings Dove back these memories and daydreams because she compares the two, and finds them similar. Hurricanes are destructive, and a whirlwind, which is another way to describe her teenage relationships which lacked worth, and were destructive when it came to the emotional side of the relationship. Dove writes, “Were thin as licorice and as chewy,/ Sweet with a dark hollow center” (Dove 19-20). Referring to her teenage crushes, Dove explains the boys were “hollow” meaning they lacked originality and depth. These boys were sweet on the outside, but had nothing on the inside. This is similar to the structure of a hurricane, where the inside, or the eye, has nothing, and is calm. It is hollow, just like Dove’s teenage crushes. Lastly, in the third and final stanza of this poem, Rita Dove explains the ordinary routines, and never changing rituals we go through