Newark was once again filled with poetry this past weekend by way of the Dodge Poetry Festival. Thousands of people of all shapes, sizes, ages, and colors flooded the Downtown Arts District from all over the globe.
There were a number of highlights throughout the festival. Yusef Komunyakaa – the first Black male Pulitzer prize winner – was among the list of featured poets. Rachel McKibbons was once again a crowd favorite – particularly with the students who attended on Friday. Saturday saw Newark’s homegrown poets grace the stage in the Brick City Voices readings. Sunday closed the festival with a tribute to the late Amiri Baraka.
This 4 day festival has been a wonderful experience for Newark each time it’s been held here and it serves as a foreshadowing of Newark’s potential as a tourist city. Newark was also one of the city’s that hosted Oprah’s The Life You Want Weekend tour.
It was my honor to be included in the Brick City Voices readings. More than that, however, it was truly a moment of pride to see poets like Sean Battle and Margie “Mia X” Johnson as feature poets in this years Dodge Poetry Festival, among others. Poetry is very much alive in Newark all year long due to the efforts of Sean Battle and Mia X. They produce and host open mic readings, many of which are free of charge. Sean Battle just published his first book poetry entitled Forest of Bricks.
Were you at the festival this year? What were some of the highlights for you? Many people have commented that they would like to see Newark’s representation in the Dodge Poetry Festival on the main stage at NJPAC. What do you think?
