Eleven Warren Hills Horizons students who share an affinity for poetry spent a day in late March at Grounds for Sculpture for The Art of Poetry Festival.

This was the second year the Art of Poetry Festival was held at Grounds for Sculpture –a 42-acre sculpture park and museum located in Hamilton, NJ — and the perfect setting for creative inspiration.

When students arrived, they were led into an auditorium to hear eight distinguished poets each read a couple of their works.

“I loved listening to the poets read their poems to us. There’s just something so special about hearing writing from the person who wrote it,” said sophomore Elisha Stenger. “I just sat and drank in their words and it was so beautiful and calming. Gretna Wilkinson was one who really captured my attention. She read with such intense passion that truly brought her words to life.”

After the readings, the students broke off into groups and each workshop was led by two of the poets for a more personal experience in one of the many rooms in the Grounds for Sculpture main building. The workshops inspired the students, even those who haven’t recently written.

Freshman Ava Johnston said, “I stopped writing for a- while because I didn’t have the time or motivation, but it was really inspirational when we were told to pursue our dreams, whether it was writing or something else.”

In the individual workshops, the poets opened with reading a few more of their own poems and invited the students in their group to share their thoughts, experiences with writing, and even their own poems. They also gave new advice to the student writers from their involvement as professional authors.

“A couple of the poets at the conference mentioned that they write their poems with the mindset of how the audience will perceive it, instead of how they themselves feel about the poem,” said sophomore Elizabeth Finnegan. “I believe that if I follow this advice, my writing will become more appealing to myself and others.”

Warren Hills’ alumnus Paul Victor Winters was one of the poets and shared some his poems inspired by his hometown and high school experiences, along with a specific poem about the hill behind the Shippen Manor in Oxford, NJ.

“Before the simple cross on top of Saint Anthony’s fell, a girl from up Dutch Hill dreamt it. She told her babysitter, who laughed at her.  She told her grandmother, who always thought the girl lied,” he read. “She told her brother, who was dumb and couldn’t understand her.”

With the workshops over, the students were able to walk the grounds themselves, with its abundance of modern art, sculptures, beadwork exhibits, and free-range peacocks.

“The sculptures of all the various artists make you see the world in different perspectives,” said Finnegan. “The whole place is marvelous, and I highly recommend going for anyone who likes art.”