A Poem Will Find You During O, Miami’s 14th Annual Poetry Festival

By Carolina del Busto for Artburst Miami

“Poetry is a revolutionary force for good,” says poet Rio Cortez. The New York-based writer will be in Miami as part of the annual O, Miami Poetry Festival that takes place all month long in April.

O, Miami overtakes the city during national poetry month with events spanning Tuesday, April 1 to Wednesday, April 30. Cortez will be in town to read her poetry on Friday, April 4 at the Cleat Miami on Key Biscayne. The Afro-Latina poet will be reading alongside Z. Yasmin Waheed, and Romeo Origun.

“I like to feed off of the energy of the other poets,” says Cortez. This will be the poet’s second time participating with O, Miami.

“A lot of the poetry that I write is based on place and really devotion and obsession of place, geographic location, landscape poetry. And so, I think that being outside (during the reading) will activate that theme in my work in a special way.”

Cortez has yet to decide on what she’ll be reciting, but the Utah native says she may be inspired by the magic of Miami to write something new to introduce at the night of the reading. The writer describes her love of poetry as “language at its most potent and most powerful. I’ve always gone to poetry at different times in my life to seek solace or inspiration or comfort or joy.”

The goal of the O, Miami Poetry Festival has always been to get a poem in front of every single person in Miami in the month of April — this might even include a poem that’s made to look like a parking ticket placed on your windshield. Don’t fret, it’s all part of their “Poetry Parking Tickets” by Christina Frigo.

While the hope of reaching all of Miami-Dade is a lofty one, it’s one that organizers continue to take seriously over a decade later.

Founded by poet P. Scott Cunningham in 2010, O, Miami celebrates its 14th anniversary this year with two new leading ladies. In 2024, Cunningham stepped down from his longtime role to relocate to Illinois. In his place, Melody Santiago Cummings and Caroline Cabrera were tasked with picking up the reins. The pair were appointed Executive Director and Artistic Director, respectively, in July of last year.

Cummings has been with the non-profit organization since 2013 and Cabrera joined the team full time in 2020. This, they say, gave them a strong advantage.

“We understand the landscape, the language, and we come with tons of institutional knowledge,” says Cummings of her new role. “It is certainly exhilarating to be able to influence, lead, and work together.”

This year’s festival will be the duo’s first in their new positions and already it has a robust schedule of events.

Cabrera excitedly lists a few new happenings that are part of the 40-event lineup: “We have a planetarium show with student poems this year; we have a poetry workshop in a graveyard, which is a first for us and very exciting; we have an original dance; and the performance of an original music composition by Nu Deco Ensemble.”

The organization will also be launching a new initiative titled “Soy de Todas Partes (I am of all places)”, which centers around Miami’s multicultural roots and the modern immigrant experience of South Florida. “It’s an effort to put 100 poems in public spaces between now and however long it takes. “Soy de Todas Partes” is really just a celebration of the majority-minority culture that we have in Miami,” adds Cabrera.

While there are plenty of festival events to choose from, both Cabrera and Cummings agree that the free-to-attend Thursday, April 17 variety show, “Where Mangoes Drop,” is the ultimate representation of what O, Miami has to offer. The event will feature performances by students in the Sunroom program, whileNu Deco Ensemble will perform an original composition. It’s a variety show that brings together poets, musicians, and artists — all the facets that make up O, Miami.

“The variety show is a new expression of O, Miami that highlights our year-round work and also spotlights how this is an organization led by artists,” says Cummings.

“We’ll show vignettes of talent from musical performances to traditional performances, and then also invite all of our collaborators, past and current, to have tabling activities… it has a slice of what O, Miami represents and is a true variety show in every sense of the word.”

There’s also the celebration of the ten-year anniversary of the popular ZipOdes, which are poems submitted that honor Miami’s unique neighborhoods and their corresponding zip codes. As part of the milestone anniversary, O, Miami is working on compiling and publishing an anthology book for ZipOdes that organizers expect will be available later this year.

“To me it almost feels unbelievable that we’ve had ten years of an entire city reciprocating in this work through poetry,” comments Cummings. Her favorite part of ZipOdes is how it attracts all sorts of people from the community, not just poets.

“A lot of the people that submit a ZipOde would never on a day-to-day basis refer to themselves as a poet.”

WHAT: 14th Annual O, Miami Poetry Festival
WHERE: Various locations throughout Miami
WHEN: Tuesday, April 1 through Wednesday, April. 30.
COST: Varies, most events are free
INFORMATION: omiami.org.

 

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