O, Miami: A Month-Long Poetry Mission

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MIAMI (CBSMiami) - April is National Poetry Month and to celebrate O, Miami, a local organization focused on literature, is bringing poetry to south Florida.

But not in the typical ways you're used to seeing poems.

You know the counter at the famous Cuban restaurant, Versailles, where people young and old gather for their coffee and pastelito.

"Everyone comes here. They know it. It's the heart of the city," said Cristina Ramos from Yo Amo 305 which is partnering with O, Miami to make unique cafecito cups.

Instead of the porcelain cups customers are used to, this month, when they get their cafecito they'll be able to read a poem or two thanks to Hialeah Haikus.

But it's not the prose and poems you're used to. Like this haiku, poking fun at Miami's unique vernacular.

"You saw that guy bro?
He started looking at me all hard.
You don't know me bro."

"When you read them you immediately get it but you have to understand the culture," said Ramos.

If you're not a fan of the Hialeah Haikus, don't worry. You'll find poetry throughout the Magic City during the month of April in places you'd never to think to look.

It's part of O Miami's Poetry Festival. Its mission: Allow every single person in Miami-Dade County to encounter a poem in April.

"It runs 30 days where we try to bring as many projects and events to Miami with the goal to expose as many residents to poetry," said Melody Santiago Cummings from O, Miami.

In an election year, yard signs are a staple in the South Florida landscape, but the O, Miami ones you'll see around the city are meant to make you think, not display your support for a candidate.

Jackson Memorial Hospital is hosting a Poetry Health Fair and will have prescription bottles filled with poems of hope or happiness.

"When you come to a hospital chances are you're not having the best day so it gives them something a little hopeful and little entertaining when they come here," said Teresita Figueras Negrete from Jackson Memorial.

So whether it's on a prescription, a coffee cup or a lawn sign, you'll find poetry, prose, and haikus everywhere. Just make sure you are looking for the words.

For more information on the O, Miami Poetry Festival go to www.omiami.org.