On October 12th, 2012 Mrs. Ingannamorte’s creative writing class went to NJ Pac in Newark, New Jersey to take part in the Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival. This poetry program has been giving a “voice to poetry” since the year 1986 and is known to be the largest poetry event in North America. Poets from different parts of the United States and other international countries take part in this festival which makes it a very unique and diverse turn out. The gist of the festival consists of different programs for both high school students and teachers of all grade levels. The creative writing class took part in attending one of the student days at the festival so the majority of the audience consisted of high school students. According to dodgepoetry.org more than 4,500 students and 2,000 teachers from throughout the country participate in conversations and readings designed specifically for them during the first two days of the Festival.
Many of the students who went on the trip described the trip as “fun”, “a good experience”, and “eye opening”. One poet that caught the attention of the students of Mrs. I’s creative writing class was Rachel McKibbens who is a member of the 2007 New York Foundation for the Arts and author of Pink Elephant. She also has taught a Healing Arts Program at Bellevue Hospital and gives lectures to people who suffer from some sort of mental illness. Creative writing student Amanda Giordano stated, “Rachel didn’t talk about fake feelings. She didn’t “sugarcoat” her feelings like the other poets did.” After listening to Rachel at the festival, the creative writing class further researched her biographical information because of how intrigued they were by her poetry and performance. Lastly, Alexandra Ortiz added, “the festival had a diverse group of people, even the food was from different cultures.” Overall, this was an opportunity for all of the creative writing students to broaden their understanding of the writing field. For more information on the dodge poetry festival, visit dodgepoetry.org.