Attending the Dodge Poetry Festival

It is very rare for it to be appropriate to rhyme “penis” and “unhappiness,” in front of a large audience. At the 30th anniversary of the Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival, Chinese-American poet Marilyn Chin recited that memorable rhyme to the audience. On Oct. 22, the English Department sponsored a field trip for seven creative writing students to attend the festival.

The Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival began in 1986 and occurs every two years. It has been held in the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) in Newark since 2010. The festival brings together American and international poets from the late 20 and the 21st century; it lasts four days and has approximately 140,000 attendees from all over the country. Admission is free to 17,000 high school teachers and 42,000 students. Over the course of the four days, there are poetry readings and forums with published poets, musical performances, and book signing. This year’s festival ran from Oct. 20-23.

Students had the opportunity to choose from many events that were going on simultaneously. The festival’s events extended from NJPAC to surrounding museums and churches. Viewers of these events all have a love for poetry, and hearing the accomplished poets speak and read their poetry brought inspiration to the audience.

“The second I walked in I felt this sweeping inclination to write, since I was amongst writers, and it was amazing just to be there with my pen and paper taking everything in. Before the festival I had serious writer’s block, but the magic of the day got to me, and it was like I never stopped writing,” said Rebecca Herz ’17.

The day started with “In Praise,” which had performances from poets Martín Espada and Mahogany L. Browne, and musical performances from the Parkington Sisters and the Newark Boys Chorus.

Another event called “Washing in Clear Water— Asian Poetry in America” had published Asian poets discussing and reading some of their works. The speakers included: Marilyn Chin, Robert Hass, Jane Hirshfield, Li-Young Lee, and Gary Snyder.

At the Newark Museum, there was a festival poetry reading from poets C. Bain, Nicole Terez Dutton, Stephanie Lenox, Priscilla Orr, and Sam Sax. In the Aljira: a Center for Contemporary Art, there was the Warrior Writers Reading, with poets that were in the military.

The Academy of American Poets sponsored “Poets Forum: Role of the Laureate” with laureates Juan Felipe Herrera, Marilyn Nelson, Alberto Rios, and Arthur Sze. They discussed how they got to be where they are and answered the audience’s questions.

“My favorite part was hearing Juan Felipe Herrera speak about his ‘La Casa De Colores’ initiative on the library of congress website. I’m inspired by how much the poets do for education and creative collaboration. That’s what poetry should be about, not competition for the sake of writing yourself into the history books. Besides, poetry is supposed to be an alternative, engaged and perceptive way of living with and through others,” said Herz.

The day ended with “Poetry Like Bread: Poems of Social and Political Consciousness” with poetry performances by Marilyn Chin, Martín Espada, Robert Hass, Juan Felipe Herrera, Brenda Hillman, Jane Hirshfield and musical performances from Parkington Sisters, Claudia Rankine, Tim Seibles, Vijay Seshadri, and Jamila Woods.