Students attended the Dodge Poetry Festival on Friday, October 18th in Newark, NJ at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC). The students attended 2-3 poetry sessions featuring published poets who read their work and answered student’s questions.
The ride to NJPAC was long. Students boarded the van at 8 am and arrived around 9:45 am. Each session was about an hour and 10 minutes long, but the time passed by quickly. They arrived about halfway through the first session titled, “Writing Our Story, Preventing Erasure”. The main takeaway was captured by poet Issam Zineh who said “Poetry can be a meaningful intervention” and poet Nicole Sealey who said that poetry is “a confirmation of life and what it means to be human”. The session emphasized how important poetry is and how it is used to define us as a whole, as humans. It is important to keep poetry alive and tell stories to ensure they are not forgotten.
The second session was “Griots Troubadours”, and MC’s” Poetry and Oral Traditions.” Students entered as a local MC rapped over a DJ playing the instrumental to Nas’ “One Mic.” The rest of the session focused on spoken word and poetry meant to be performed. Thousands of years before the printing press, people had created poetry that was meant to be performed. It had become cultural and important that these poems were performed, recited, and sung. Throughout the session, ACE students experienced four performers: Ashna Ali, Mahogany L. Browne, Imani Cezanne, and Nancy Mercado. Students were amazed as each poet performed dramatic readings of their own poetry and delivered messages that were relatable and inspiring.
The last session was “Because We Come from Everything” by Latinx poets: Diannely Antigua, Carmen Calatayud, Blas Falconer, and Naomi Ortiz. This one was inspired by Juan Felipe Herrera’s poem “Borderbus” and about how poets capture the ideas from his poem to empower communities in troubling times.
Overall this trip was a great experience. The messages like “poetry can be a meaningful intervention” and that love turns nothing into everything were very powerful and should be appreciated. Showing how important it is to NOT forget poetry and to show more love to those around you.
