Rita Dove wrote "Thomas at the Wheel" and it is from the collection of poetry called "Thomas and Beulah." This poetry tells the story of the lives of Thomas and Beulah. The first part of the story is from Thomas's point of view, "Mandolin," and the second part is Beulah's, "Canary in Bloom." "Thomas at the Wheel" is from the "Mandolin" selection. "Thomas at the Wheel" is written in the third person, and it is five stanzas long. In this poem Thomas has a heart attack that kills him and some of his thoughts are represented. Thomas knows that he is having a heart attack, he accepts the fact that he is going to die and he thinks of his wife with his final thoughts. This poem symbolizes that Thomas finally has control of his life and that he is ready to leave this world.
             In the first stanza, it is raining and Thomas is in a drugstore parking lot. He is reminiscing about a childhood experience that happened to his friend Lem. Thomas watched his friend die in a river. The line "This, then, the river he had to swim" (l.1), Thomas is thinking about the river that killed his friend. The heavy rain is bringing back memories. Perhaps Thomas has a feeling that his life might end soon.
             In the second stanza, Thomas remarks on how a man comes out of the drugstore to smoke a cigarette. In this stanza he begins to have a heart attack as noticed in the line "Thomas thought the sky was emptying itself as fast as his chest was filling with water" (ll. 7-9). He doesn't panic as he is in pain. There in so mention of him being scared. He feels that he is in control of his life, that things are finally in order, and that he can leave this world without leaving any problems behind.
             In the third stanza, Thomas knows that he is having a heart attack. He asks himself if he should raise attention to him
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