Dodge Poetry Festival

On Friday, October 21st, Ms. Umansky and six students from the Genesis editorial staff attended the Dodge Poetry Festival in Newark, NJ, for High School Student Day.  The group was assigned to see an array of poets, including Sharon Olds and Patricia Smith. The students thought the festival was inspiring and though-provoking. Emily Singh, 11th grade, said, “ The Dodge Poetry Festival was my very first in-person poetry reading and it definitely exceeded all expectations I had by miles.”

“I had the pleasure of listening to a variety of riveting, thought-provoking poetry; many specific lines from different poems especially struck me, and I still remember them now, said Sophia Martinez, 10th grade. “I also learned a lot about what it means to be an artist and how to touch people with your poems…I left the festival feeling slightly overwhelmed but totally inspired, and I had already started constructing a new poem in my head on the train ride back to school.”

Ruthie LaTona, 11th grade,  said, “ I didn’t realize how much the Dodge Poetry Festival would end up meaning to me. It was life changing. It was comforting to hear other people's works of art and being in a room where people shared opinions and comments on it.”

“The way many of the people seemed to revere and idolize the poets, especially Sharon Olds, was unexpected to me,” said Ryan Borkowksy, 12th grade,  “I usually assume novels are the more popular form of literature, and I did not realize that modern poets could obtain the legendary status that people like Sharon Olds have. From what I gathered by listening to the poets read their work and talk about their process, the essence of poetry is concision; trying to fit as many ideas and emotions into as little words as possible…Something I noticed with all of the poets is that they used their writing as a vehicle for introspection and self-evaluation. All of them seemed to be in tune with themselves because they spend so much time writing about their lives or experiences.”
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