Stanza 1 Summary

Line 1

How she sat there,

• This is a deceptively simple opener. While you're sitting in class, is there a marching band playing behind you to celebrate your taking a load off? Probably not. Typically there aren't a lot of bells and whistles that go along with sitting there. 
• But if you think about who "she" is, the line seems more powerful (cue the slow, dramatic music). It's easy enough to figure out that this poem is about Rosa Parks because Rita Dove says so (Google has really changed our lives).
• It's also possible to figure it out without that inside info. The title (big hint number one) combined with the first line
• (Parks is likely the most famous sitter ever) equals some seriously high likelihood that Dove is talking about Rosa Parks. Further reading will only confirm this stellar sleuth work, but let's not get ahead of ourselves. And because Rosa Parks is a boss, her merely sitting there is a big event. 
• When you think about how generally no-big-deal taking a seat is, it's kind of crazy to think of the impact Rosa Parks sitting down actually had. Her entire protest, her Civil Rights fifteen minutes of fame, was all about sitting on a bus peacefully. 
• Check out the first word: "How." Dove could have easily said, "She sat there." The word "how" really zooms in our focus—Dove wants us to stop and consider Parks, consider not only what she did, but how she did it. This single word sets the tone of close observation. 
• That simple, but powerful act is exactly what Dove is able to capture in this simple, but powerful, opening line.
• The stage, as they say (and who is they, b.t.w.?), is officially set.

Lines 2–3

The time right inside a place
so wrong it was ready.

• Holy mind twister, Batman! Rita Dove is mixing time and space dimensions!
• Luckily you don't need superpowers to decode this line (though you might need Shmooper powers). Dove is probably just getting at the fact that the time (in history, 1955) was right, and so was the place (in this case, the deep south of Montgomery, Alabama where racial tension was super-high) for Parks to do what she decided to do. 
• It's probably a good idea to keep in mind that this poem was written almost fifty years after the actual event. Rita Dove can write with confidence that the "time was right inside a place" because she knows how it all played out, and she knows the positive impact Parks had on the American Civil Rights Movement. This poem is very much about reflecting on that moment, rather than retelling it for us. 
• It looks like Dove is still having a little fun twisting our brains. Line 3 is awfully similar to a paradox, "so wrong it was right." But if we do a little scanning back to line 2, we'll be able to unravel this mysterious line in no time. 
• First of all, we need to figure out what is "so wrong." Rewinding to line 2, we see that Dove is referring to the place—in this case, a bus in Montgomery, Alabama. And Montgomery is "wrong" because it's got some seriously bogus racial segregation practices, including the one this poem focuses on: making African-Americans sit in designated sections of a public bus. If there weren't enough seats, they were forced to stand or exit the bus. We know—fully whack.
• When Dove writes, "so wrong it was ready," the "wrong" and "it" both refer to Montgomery, and that's what's ready. People like Parks are fed up with the racial segregation practices there. They're an affront to human dignity, and they are so over it! Parks is ready to stand up (or sit down) for her civil rights.