Every two years, the Performing Arts Center in Newark, NJ hosts the Geraldine Dodge Poetry Festival. For four days, poets and students from all over the country flock to northern New Jersey to listen to various writers perform what is arguably one of the most powerful forms of literature.

This year, English teacher Shawn Layton’s AP Literature classes were able to attend the festival. From 9:30-10:40 a.m., I got the chance to hear incredible poems by Michael Klein, Yesenia Montilla, and Aaron Smith at the Victoria Theater. I felt like I could truly connect with the poets because of how personal their work is. They weren’t the type of poems that you learn in school that have so many confusing meanings. These were personal stories that dealt with issues like race, abuse, sexuality, and gender.

Other activities at the festival included an Open Reading at Military Park, various readings followed by Q&A sessions, and presentations on the connection between music and poetry. The Open Reading was the most fun, in my opinion. A small group of students huddled underneath a tent to avoid the rain. Most of us stood up in front of everyone and shared our own poems. It was amazing to see how people my age can write such powerful lines.

Kenneth Shindle, an English teacher at HHS, chaperoned the trip with Layton. Shindle’s favorite part about the trip was the poets themselves. He was excited to meet Honorée Fanonne Jeffers and Martín Espada. Shindle also loves chaperoning this particular trip because it provides a relaxed, fun environment to listen to real writers.

Shindle believes that it is important for students to attend the festival because young aspiring writers and poets need role models.

“There’s something kind of obscure about a ‘poet’ and his or her life,” Shindle said. “We often think of them as dead old white guys who were writing hundreds of years ago. The Dodge Poetry Festival proves that that is not the case and that people of all walks of life have dedicated themselves to putting words on a page.”

Senior Jordan Kang, who went on the field trip and presented an original haiku at the Open Reading, loved his experience. He was the first one brave enough to share his poem that he had only written five minutes before. It was easily his favorite part of the day. “The trip was also filled with interesting speakers and awesome seminars,” Kang said.