O, Miami Poetry Festival Food Edition
You get a poem! You get a poem! And you get a poem!
Every April, the folks at the O, Miami Poetry Festival make sure everyone is exposed to a poem, sometimes where you least expect it. We’ve rounded up some of the food-and-drink-related projects that make this annual festival especially delicious. Find out about all of this year’s poetry events at their website.
Sourdough Cento
This project combines a cento – a patchwork poem – with one of the pandemic’s favorite solo efforts, sourdough bread. Hosted by Ranijun Ruado and Chase Simmering, you’ll spend time creating and interacting with poetry every day while working on a sourdough starter. Every day as you feed your starter, you’ll write a line of poetry. At the end of the month, you’ll not only have a starter to make baked goods, but a brand-new, one-of-a-kind poem that chronicles your experience. Mentors will help you along the way, teaching you how to care for your starter and give you helpful prompts and ideas for your poems. Join a community of poets and bakers and let your imagination rise!
Sundays, April 11, 18, and 25, 11am-12:30pm
More here.
O, Peeps
Explore your sweeter side by combining poetry and Peeps to create Peepetry! Use Peeps to embody your favorite poets (Emily Peepinson, Peep-lo Neruda, Walt Peepman, Edgar Allan …). Who will create a classic diorama based on a poem, stop-action shorts of Peeps reciting poems, Peep poetry TikToks, something else? Submissions can be uploaded as photos, MP4s or gifs. They’ll appear on the O, Miami social media feeds, and a Super-Duper Swag Bag of O, Miami stuff will be awarded to the grand winner selected by a jury of Peep experts.
O, Cheers
LeeBetsy Charon, an avid O, Miami goer who writes poetry, takes part in the festival every year. This year, Charon, who does accounting for breweries, proposed “O, Cheers,” and asked her beer clients to come up with a special beer, labeled with a poem, for the event. Hialeah’s Unbranded Brewing Company took her up on the offer. The result is a sweet orange and lime gose, a citrusy sour beer with a little salt to balance the sweet. For all of April, you can order the special beer in the taproom or pick up a crowler with the poem excerpt by M.J. Fierve.
in Miami, almost everyone’s English has warm vowels like
sun-drenched, sandy washboard roads,
and sharp, salty consonants like queso blanco,
swordfish, or tortilla chip
Unbranded Brewing Company, Hialeah
Multilingual Miami Memories
Harness the powerful force of food nostalgia for this zine about your favorite restaurants. Grace’s Delicatessen in Miami Springs or George’s Sub Shop on SW 8th St.? A beloved bakery in Allapattah or Little Haiti? “Food is how we connect with neighborhoods,” says project creator and Miami native Lysz Flo. Everyone is invited to capture their favorite food haunts, past and present, in English, Spanish or Haitian Creole, submitting poems, essays, art and photos. The results will be published in a zine available through O, Miami. You have until April 30 to submit your entry.
Multilingual Miami Memories
Something to Chew On
Inspired by a similar project created by the Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop, “Something to Chew On” places classic gumball machines around Miami to disseminate the poems of incarcerated South Florida writers. You’ll find a plastic ball containing one poem written by a currently incarcerated poet. All poems were written in workshops held by Exchange for Change inside of correctional institutions. Gumball machines will be scattered around Miami-Dade County, hosted by local businesses and organizations.
Community Fridge Centos
Project by Kyriaki Tsaganis (she/her) and Isabella Marie Garcia (she/her)
Presented in partnership with Buddy System MIA
Community fridges – refrigerators set up in food-insecure neighborhoods – will give away more than meals. In collaboration with Buddy System MIA, who created and maintains the fridges, this project puts original poetry stickers onto the food packaging. The poetry will reach people at locations from Homestead to Little Haiti, inviting the community to benefit from this mutual exchange of grassroots efforts to nourish the body and spirit.
