Poetry and Plants

by Betsy Hays

On October 1, I entered the magnificent grounds of Duke Farms in Hillsborough, New Jersey. Along with hundreds of poetry lovers, students and teachers, I hiked down the rolling hills, past lush meadows, ornamental fountains and the foundation of an unfinished French chateau. As I came alongside one of the many lakes on this sprawling estate, I saw before me a sea of white canvas tents springing up like giant mushrooms on the Great Lawn. The warm sun beat down on us, all visitors in search of literary enlightenment in a botanical setting. We were here for the Dodge Poetry Festival, the Woodstock of poetry festivals, aptly dubbed "Wordstock" by the New York Times.

The Dodge Poetry Festival is a devoted gathering of poets and poetry lovers that happens only once every two years. This year's festival marked the 10th anniversary of the largest poetry event in North America, featuring more than five dozen nationally and internationally acclaimed poets for four days of readings, discussions and conversations. No less than six Pulitzer Prize winners (including four New Jersey-based poets), two U.S. Poet Laureates and dozens of featured poets who enlightened and entertained thousands of guests attended the festival.

As if the poetry festival itself weren't spectacular enough, it was held this year for the first time at Duke Farms, a 2,700-acre estate that was once the treasured New Jersey residence of philanthropist and art lover Doris Duke. Starting in 1893, tobacco and hydropower magnate James Buchanan "Buck" Duke (Doris Duke's father) transformed the property from farmland and woodlots into a landscape of woodlands, gardens, fields, lakes, bridges, statuary and waterfalls.

Today Duke Farms is an incomparable gem, one of the few remaining examples of the country lifestyles of the 19th and 20th century American industrialists. It contains 36 miles of roads, nearly two million plants, nine man-made lakes, 18 fountains, 10 waterfalls, 54 bridges, miles of stone walls, magnificent statuary and several out-buildings. There is also an "orchid range" greenhouse and the vine-covered foundation of a French Chateau that was planned but never completed.

I meandered, hoping to find Maria Mazziotti Gillan, an accomplished poet and director of the widely respected Poetry Center at Passaic County Community College. Although I never located her among the throngs, she shared her post-festival thoughts with me via e-mail, musing on the similarities between poets and gardeners, poetry and gardens.

"My mother had a garden she adored, and she used to wait all winter for spring to come," Maria recalled. "She said that knowing the garden was waiting made her feel peaceful and calm during bleak January days. That's how I feel about the Dodge Festival. I wait for it as a plant waits for water. It refreshes and renews my spirit."

Gillan also observed, "Poetry, I think, is rooted in the body, and when I am sitting in the big tent at the festival, allowing the poems to wash over me, my body reacts with smiles and laughter and tears. I take home with me the nutrients of poetry, the way language and poetry feeds us and helps us grow as people and as writers."

After purchasing a few volumes of poetry I stopped to chat with two young women, Julie and Catherine, both writers and graduates of Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia. Catherine had enlisted Julie, now a graduate student in Creative Writing at West Chester University, to join her for the trip to New Jersey for the day. Both were excited to be in the company of poets in this botanical setting. Catherine, who had attended former Dodge Festivals, thought the bucolic Duke Estate ideal for such a large gathering.

We sat in the sun talking about favorite poets, the merits of live journals and the necessity of humor in writing. Julie writes "random poems for people as gifts." Catherine feels that helping children learn how to write is the most exciting thing about her chosen field. I felt warmed by the existence of young writers who want to nurture, entertain and give back.

Stopping by the Duke Foundation tent, I was delighted to learn that this year, for the first time, Duke Gardens, an exquisite series of greenhouse gardens created by Doris Duke, will feature holiday displays representing the various cultures displayed under glass. A tribute to great garden styles of the world, Duke Gardens consists of 11 climate-controlled landscapes in linked greenhouses. Over 35,000 visitors a year enjoy the display gardens, which include Italian, English, Colonial American, French, Chinese, Japanese and Indo-Persian garden designs.

This year through mid-November, guests can tour both Duke Gardens - the indoor greenhouses - and Duke Farms - the 700-acre park at the heart of Duke Farms, which until last year hadn't been open to the public for over 75 years. The first time Duke Park was opened to the public was in the early 20th century by Buck Duke. He intended this to be New Jersey's version of Central Park — a place where the working people could come to experience natural beauty and restful surroundings. The experiment came to an end when visitors apparently vandalized and littered the grounds one too many times for Buck's taste.

Although the Dodge Poetry Festival crowd were a civilized lot, I couldn't help but smile as I wondered how Buck would have regarded the teeming masses, albeit poets and poetry lovers, who were tramping through his beloved grounds once more, a century later.

In any case, you'll have to wait at least two more years for the Poetry Festival, but Duke Farms & Gardens is a lyrical inspiration available to the public from October through May each year.

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published November 10, 2004