Take a walk through Newark’s Riverfront Park searching for poems that tell the stories of the people who visit it! Listen to the poems by following the trail of photographs by photojournalist Ed Kashi that provide clues for discovering the poetry in and of Riverfront Park.
Poetry has long been a means of personal storytelling; PoemQuest tells the story of Riverfront Park through the voices of local poets commissioned by Newest Americans to interview visitors and share their stories through poetry. The poets asked questions designed to understand how visitors are connected to the park and to New Jersey—Where did your family come from before settling in New Jersey? What brought you here? What brings you to this park?
PoemQuest connects art to history through an interactive game that peoples the park with poetry. Once you play the game we encourage you to share your own poem about the journey that led you to Newark and your connection to Riverfront Park. Submit your poem
Ntwademela, he who greets with fire in Sesotho,
hails from post World Cup South Africa
by way of grandfather and father’s West Virginia,
attended Rutgers playing what America calls football,
a scholarship to study econ and pre-med bio,
then graduated to found a nearby tech startup—
says, “what I’ve learned…I’ll always use it”—
does not worry how long he’ll live in Canarsie, Brooklyn,
before moving on, smiles while scoring goals on a Newark
Riverfront summer afternoon, a pick up with a Spanish-
speaking friend who says he’s gotta run
when I start asking too many questions, who
Ntwademela later confides is homeless, adds,
“If you go to Market St., you still see lots of them.”
On a polished turf pitch in the middle of a renaissance
he who greets with the energy of the sun declares,
“I’m not a politician. We are all people. I do what I can.”