Poetry & Democracy

Posted on by Dodge Poetry Staff

We’re so excited to announce our free, public event coming up on Saturday, March 23 in Morristown: What Is It, Then, Between Us?: Poetry & Democracy.

Each March, every member organization of the national Poetry Coalition offers programming related to a shared theme of social importance. In 2017, it was migration; it 2018, it was the body. This year, it’s democracy.

Dodge Poetry’s contribution to this national project is a free, public event we’ll be hosting in our neighborhood of Morristown, New Jersey on Saturday, March 23 2019 from 1:00-8:30 p.m.

This event will feature poetry readings, conversations, q&a, panel talks, performances and writing activities led by poets including:

Janet Aalfs • Jan BeattyReginald Dwayne BettsCortney Lamar CharlestonCatherine DotyRigoberto González • Joe WeilRachel Wiley 

We’ll also be joined by speakers from the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice and musicians the Parkington Sisters.

Dodge Poetry Festival 2018 698 Dodge Poetry Festival Newark, New Jersey 10/18-21, 2018 Photo Credit: T Charles Erickson © T Charles Erickson Photography tcepix@comcast.net

Photo Credit: T Charles Erickson
© T Charles Erickson Photography

Afternoon sessions will take place from 1:00-2:30 pm and 3:00-4:30 pm at the Mayo Performing Arts Center, the Morristown & Morris Township Library, St. Peter’s Episcopal Church and Church of the Redeemer.

These sessions will include:

  • several poets reading poems & joining in conversation with participants
  • conversations and panel talks
  • writing activities

The subjects we’ll be exploring together include youth incarceration and voting rights for previously incarcerated citizens; LGBTQ rights; the lives of the working poor; and more.

Dodge Poetry Festival 2018 689 Dodge Poetry Festival Newark, New Jersey 10/18-21, 2018 Photo Credit: T Charles Erickson © T Charles Erickson Photography tcepix@comcast.net

Photo Credit: T Charles Erickson
© T Charles Erickson Photography

The evening’s music and poetry performance, “In Praise: a Thousand Ways to Kneel and Kiss the Earth,” will celebrate gratitude across boundaries of race, creed, sexual orientation, ethnicity and gender and will feature music by the Parkington Sisters.

You can register for the afternoon sessions only, the evening event only, or both!

Register here

If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to reach out to us at poetryprogram@grdodge.org

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