On Saturday, October 22nd, we participated in the Dodge Poetry Festival held in Downtown Newark, New Jersey. It was a pleasure to be back in person at North America’s largest poetry festival. Kundiman presented a reading with J. Mae Barizo, Hazem Fahmy, and Serena Yang inside the Trinity & St. Philip’s Cathedral.
Hazem Fahmy, Serena Yang, and J. Mae Barizo on stage at the Dodge Poetry Festival.
J. Mae Barizo reading at the Dodge Poetry Festival.
“Everything remembers everything”
J. Mae Barizo kicked us off, reading poems that reflected on her family lineage and growing up as the daughter of Filipino immigrants. Her poems guided us through history, both personal and cultural.
Serena Yang reading at the Dodge Poetry Festival.
“What is a poet but the last witness to the fire”
Serena Yang shared powerful poems that pondered on memory, rage, and belonging. We were also lucky enough to hear her read some love poems (which, she admits, she’d probably never share with her mom)!
Hazem Fahmy reading at the Dodge Poetry Festival.
“Suddenly there was an entire field / of possibilities”
Hazem Fahmy closed out the reading with poems from his chapbook, Waiting For Frank Ocean in Cairo, that explored finding meaning outside the confines of the state.
Kundiman Programs Manager Gina Chung moderating a Q&A with Hazem Fahmy, Serena Yang, and J. Mae Barizo.
The reading was followed by an Q&A where we looked at how memory plays into the process of writing poetry and examined the role of a poet in bearing witness to the current times that we’re in.
Serena Yang spoke about how while writing poetry is important, it is also part of an “array of things that you can do” to bear witness and contribute to the world we live in.
“All writers have material worlds and workplaces that we can also be concerned with,” said Hazem Fahmy, as he built upon this notion and reminded us to carry our art and care into our physical environments too.
J. Mae Barizo suggested, “Sometimes as a poet it’s these different ways of looking. Sometimes we can’t look at the fire straight on. We have to somehow navigate around it.” Her words spoke to the challenges of capturing a moment when one is already enmeshed in it, and offered an alternate route where we could write around the moment.
Anastacia-Reneé, Chekwube Danladi, and Quenton Baker at the Cave Canem reading.
We were also elated to catch our friends Cave Canem at their reading with Anastacia-Reneé, Chekwube Danladi, and Quenton Baker.
The Kundiman reading was held inside the tranquil Trinity & St. Philip’s Cathdral.
Kundiman poets Hazem Fahmy, Serena Yang, and J. Mae Barizo.
All in all, it was an uplifting and unforgettable day celebrating the power of poetry! Thank you to Dodge Poetry Festival for having us, and to the radiant poets J. Mae Barizo, Hazem Fahmy, and Serena Yang for guiding us through the past, helping us look towards the future, and allowing us to bear witness to these pivotal moments in Asian American literature.