to gather here as this event has become a value tradition for us in april 2022 we hosted the announcement of miami-dade county's inaugural poet laureate richard blanco and in 2024 we celebrated the appointment of caridad moro good grown the air sorry um who will soon pass the baton to our county's next poet laureate and what better way to begin national poetry month than with today's announcement of miami-dade county's third poet laureate work with with connecting her community through poetry she has been a wonderful partner in many of our library programs thank you for that i'd also like to recognize um a few distinguished guests that we have joining today ashley thomas entering director department of cultural affairs and from o miami executive
director melody santiago cummings and artistic director caroline cabrera special thank you
to nicole tallman for her continued support of poetry and our libraries and now to the reason we're all here four years ago our mayor made history by appointing miami-dade's inaugural poet laureate today she continues that tradition by announcing our next poet laureate please join
me in welcoming me daniella lavin calva well it is a pleasure to be here once again beautiful car and with so many auspicious guests so thank you everyone for being here and a lot of fans are here of our current poet laureate of our future poet laureate of all things poetry uh here and i want to say that not only did i create the poet laureate program but also the artist in residence program and i i think this will probably mark me as the most artistically inclined mayor in miami-dade county history and i do have to say that it would not any of it have been possible without the guidance and stewardship of our wonderful nicole tallman so when i came in as mayor she was left standing and we were so grateful that she was and i knew about her incredible prowess as a writer and communicator i did not know so much about the poetry in her soul so we came to learn more about that as time went by and we've integrated poetry into to so many aspects of our lives thank you so very much for that and we're doing this during national poetry month so here we are in a library where not only are there books but there's access to all kinds of multimedia and of course you can access these things online but you know books are still very very special and i want to acknowledge that poetry is a big part of the collection here would you say what do we what can we say about the poetry collection here do we have a section a growing poetry section under the leadership of our now interim director lydia lopez thank you so much and so it's very fitting that we would be in this space for the announcement of our third poet laureate during my tenure as mayor and she will be my last approach so she will live out the term with me and her artwork will continue to be appreciated and admired uh for for years and years to come so i want to thank our friends from oh miami who have brought poetry into the community soul i'm especially fond of the wrapping around construction sites i just want to say that always brings a special lift uh to my heart and we are celebrating the 15th anniversary 15th birthday of oh miami poetry festival so that makes it a key in miami city say quince this is your quince congratulations we're also so honored and proud to have our second poet laureate with us here today who was our first woman that's caridad moro grandlier thank you so much caridad for being with us we're going to be hearing from you very soon with something special and it has been a true honor uh to have you serve she provided uh something at the beginning of her tenure she produced a poem that is emblazoned on my heart about belonging that she recited at my most recent state of the county and i've just been telling everyone i can the theme of belonging really is the theme that i hope will be a lasting legacy for my tenure as your mayor so thank you for putting to words what i feel in my heart you are also part of the generation 305 project or you are that project and it's culminating on april 12th and will be part of the quince celebration so that is also very very exciting so we've worked hard to integrate art art is also the doorway to civic engagement to connecting across our diverse community so many things that arts uh do to uplift our souls and promote positive social change that is my sweet spot for arts um and so uh along with the poet laureate program we had to have a poet ambassador so that has been nicole tallman since the beginning and she has served now going on four years as our poet ambassador and she's done so much in that role she made sure that we participated actively in uh oh miami and by the way i am now a published poet yes i did one of those zipodes you'll have to find it it it's not on the program for me to recite it but it does show my appreciation for where i live um she also has presided over two major collaborative works that are called the crown i gotta get it right the heroic sonic crown project so two times collaborative very amazing how it was produced and very evocative so we will will hope that you'll read that in her magnum opus she's also published recently a book of poetry so she's a published author as well uh so she has helped us to identify each of the poet laureates and our first was richard blanco uh who also of course was the u.s poet laureate so we you know copying what is it the best form of flattery uh but he's ours you know so we are especially proud of that and uh through your service now um we've also put poetry in many public places at the airport at the port and i hear we have big plans for transit so stay tuned am i allowed to give it the name it is what moves us is that it who where where who's my miami moves me so you heard it here first soon to be launched on our transit lines my miami moves me i'm very very pleased about that so um we also had a lunchtime poetry and jazz series it was right here at the main library and uh nicole has also served as the south florida poetry journal editor and the blue mountain review and she's on the voluntary advisory board of swwim supporting women writers in miami in other words she's very focused not only on her own creativity but making sure that others have a voice and that their creativity can be uh received and and appreciated she also created the redacted book series selecting manuscripts from marginalized writers for publication and the be well reading series oh my goodness i know you're very busy working with jimmy morales as his chief of staff but somehow you find it time to uh bring all of this creativity uh and and giving voice and a platform for so many who are launching uh new books and new new avocations so your fifth your fifth book of poetry is coming out next april wow let's give her a big round for that that's a lot i think this woman you know sometimes right under your nose is the very person that most deserves recognition and she's been working so hard and brought so much light and life to this county in her role as poetry ambassador and it is a great great pride and joy for me to acknowledge her now as the poetry ambassador america and the poet laureate for miami dade county so if you would please join me
you know you're the poet laureate now oh wow all right can you hear me okay yes all right thank you so much
this is really a dream come true mayor and um i want to thank you for your vision and your leadership and for all you have done and continue to do for the arts and for our community none of this would be possible without you you are the first mayor to recognize the importance of having a poet laureate in our community and for that i and so many poets and poetry lovers are eternally grateful it was an honor to serve as your poetry ambassador and it is an honor to serve as your poet laureate for the next few years and to shepherd miami's poet laureate program into the future so many people i love are here today thank you to my partner of 10 years millie thank you for being on time thank you millie that was a little bit of a dig i'm sorry she's venezuelan and not the best with time but i love her with all my heart thank you carrie dad for paving the way for me and to our inaugural poet laureate richard blanco who could not be here but i know is here in spirit thank you oh miami thank you miami book fair thank you swim ladies um i think you're representing swim today i love swim books and books in the betsy thank you to my work family i see you all here thank you so so much for being here with me my parents are unfortunately not able to be here but i want to thank my mother for reading poetry to me from a very very young age and to my father who supported my love of reading i'm hesitant to continue naming names because i do not want to miss anyone but if you are in this room you are dear to me if you are watching via live stream you are dear to me and if you are working and not able to watch this live but will tune in later you are dear to me thank you for supporting me and my poetry as poet laureate i plan to work on more collaborative projects like the heroic heroic sonic crown project that the mayor mentioned earlier that will bring our community together through the power of the arts more on that will come later for now and in the interest of time i want to focus on the real reason we are all here to celebrate poetry and community happy national poetry month everyone i thought a lot about which poems to read to you today i think it is important to honor those who have come before us so i have selected four short poems to read a poem from each of my two predecessors and two poems of my own which all speak to each other through their seasonality let us bring the great richard blanco into the room with us richard has a new and selected book out called homeland of my body and richard's poems tend to be a little bit long so i'm not going to read the whole thing but i'm going to read an excerpt of one of my favorite poems of his called main yet miami main yet miami by richard blanco even though i marvel over springs abracadabra each time my lilac blooms appear i still disappear back into the magic of summer nights on the porch the moon lighting up my grandfather's stories about his lost cuba his words carried away with the smoke of his tobacco and the scent of his jasmine tree flowering the night with its tiny perfumed stars i love that line so beautiful carrie dodd is already in the room with us already let's honor her in her new book through the lens through the lens um it's a book of ekphrastic poetry and the poets in the room will know what i mean by ekphrastic basically it means it's inspired by other art um it was hard for me to choose one but i wanted to choose one that was about the seasons i wonder if you know which one i chose snowbird yeah thank you thank you snowbird by caridad moral grown lear all winter the grass has held fast to green so lush it is easy to forget how hard the ground can be without an expanse of blades to cushion the fall it is warm here what a relief to shrug off the wool coat untie the want for sunlight move in a cotton dress cut from ocean blue cloth and water the birds of paradise beaks parted in a mangrove of yard flock that thrives in soil that knows nothing of flowers nursed for months beneath the snow daffodils and paper whites bulbs bred to endure the burrow beneath the earth roots shortened by season buds clenched in fists of unfurled petals their strength gathered in darkness for the spring from the shroud let's give caridad a round of applause thank you my friend for your words always and i'm going to read two short ones of my own as the mayor mentioned earlier i have a new book coming out in april and it's called the velvet room and i'm going to read my poem of the same name for you and this poem is important to me because it comes from one of my favorite childhood books the velvet room and it not only pays tribute to the book and to the memory of that time in my life when i read it but also to the school librarian who recommended the book to me and if i close my eyes i can still smell that grape sticker that the librarian gave me when she gave me the book so i suppose that this poem is a tribute to that sticker into the sense that fuel our memories this is the velvet room in fifth grade i carried a grape scratch and sniff sticker in my pants pocket wherever i went i also carried a copy of a heavy faded book the school librarian reserved especially for me mrs woodward reminded me of a mouse being chased by an owl someone said something about her living with another woman we weren't supposed to speak of it although no one ever told me that directly my sticker became my bookmark by winter my book smelled like an old vineyard even now if i close my eyes the curtained room velvets and purples this is the last one thank you um i wrote this poem it's a sonnet for those of you who care about form um and it captures the essence of living in miami at least through my lens and i'll be handing out a copy of this poem to each of you to take home with you um as a keepsake and a thank you for being here today this is june june there's so much to love that remains to be seen in miami the sky turns pink then blue it's a scene that people save up to see it's a scene i see every morning from my room and i work so hard for this view to live where others only dream to see a palm sway from december to june to forever see the moon to forever see the moon and know it will never ever snow to live in perpetual june it's always summer in miami and here it's always june thank you all so much thank you thank you and now it is my honor to introduce our outgoing poet laureate and my really really good friend let's um give her a very well warm welcome and round of applause carried on moral girl
lear oh good morning thank you mayor kava for your leadership for your continued support uh thank you to our distinguished guests to everyone here and let's give another round of applause to our new poet laureate so um i thought about what i would read and i'm going to read my first poem that i wrote for the county uh what roots shall bloom because i mentioned a perfect segue for the snowbird and she's my favorite snowbird she's from michigan but here she's repping miami all the time and that's because people who come here root here people who find home here um make it just that their home and that's what you've done not only through the geography but through the support for all of us all of the creatives all of the people of miami-dade county and for your support of me um every time i had a question every time i had a worry you always came through and i want to thank you for that and so much more so this one is for you and for all of us because that's what you do my friend you speak for us what roots shall bloom the banyan at bayside sans sentry over the city it watches nourished by a century of sea breeze and salt brine miami sidewalks soften beneath its crown leaf knit canopy so grand we have forgotten it began as a seed that fell from the beak of a migrant bird fleeing its origins in search of sunshine a warmer abode the dream of a home gathered from fronds and sticks from detritus hope alone fueling its wings spurring it on this is how a county grows one kernel at a time the seedling begets the sprout the sprout begets the sapling the sapling digs in and strives for light for height for the strength required to anchor itself to grow into a trunk that will extend its branches toward us all verdant arms laden with blossoms with berries with mangoes with flowers for our tables our altars the offerings we cast into our river our ocean for the dirt ruined hands of the gardener who knows to prune only what can be transplanted what can be regrown from the cutting a scion strong enough to root itself within a new spot and grow in soil studded with coral and limestone wanting only to offer itself to bloom again
once more thank you i'm caroline cabrera i'm melody santa cummings we are co-directors at o miami in the words of miami-dade county librarian and zip-ode poet john quinones the main library is our very own palace downtown it's a pleasure and an honor to be here with you all on april 1st to celebrate the beginning of national poetry month with this special announcement in her tenure at the miami-dade county mayor's office nicole has consistently worked to keep poetry woven into civic life and it's altogether fitting that she should take on the mantle of poet laureate congratulations nicole no city centers or celebrates poetry centers poetry or celebrates poetry month the way we do here in miami bigger louder and with a good bit of sparkle for 15 years o miami has aimed to make poetry accessible and unavoidable meeting people where they are and surprising them with poetic moments of delight we have a lot of fun with this work and the fun is part of the goal but beneath the fun and flashy surface of the bad bunny look-alike contest or the poems dropped from helicopters there's the deeper truth of poetry as a connective force that helps us to express ourselves and
understand each other the theme for this year's festival is wonder that humbling experience that can delight us make us feel giddy and curious and remind us that we are small within the universe the sentiment is best captured in the words of this year's tote bag featured poet sophia who wrote this as a third grader in our poetry in schools program the sunroom at feinberg fisher k-8 center oh unknown world you are interested indeed we invite you all to lean into wonder and celebrate the 15th annual o miami poetry festival um and of course national poetry month in miami but join us in attending an event uh contributing a poem this month whether through one of our open calls or write a zippo like our madam mayor did um and please become part of this entire project we welcome you to join our street team and distribute poetry parking tickets that also feature poems written by south florida youth um and it's a guaranteed way that someone will read a poem um so we invite you to um celebrate poetry in your own way we do this collaborative creative experiment that is o miami for you and with you thank you and it's our honor to
to welcome back the mayor