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00000173-d94c-dc06-a17f-ddddb4420000WLRN wants the news to be a shared experience. The community contribution program builds on that principle by allowing you, our listeners and readers, to become our writers. We want to publish your essays, your prose and your stories about what it's like to live in South Florida. If you have a story to tell, email WLRN Public Insight Network analyst Stefania Ferro here.

A Miami Native Who Remained Local Pens A Poem On Her Dying Breed

We’ve asked a few of the authors of standout poems for our That’s So Miami project to explain the inspiration behind their work. Find the winners of our contest and more entries here.

  I’m from Miami

Can you say that?

Not many can

Some came by raft

The water’s warm

The people mostly cold

By wearing limited clothes

They can be very bold

English often coming

after Spanish, spoken first

Even Creole is common

and some Patois interspersed

Our fans of sports

Are loyal to the teams

Yet only when

they’re winning, it seems

These are the things

You will only see

Here in this city because

That’s SO Miami!

I immediately became motivated to write this poem when I heard of the open submission because I have spontaneously been writing poems for many years.  They come to me naturally, without much thought.  Usually they’re of matters of the heart; however, with me being born, raised, and still living in Miami, I guess Miami is also in my heart to a certain extent.  Not many people can say they were born here and actually still live here.  Most Miamians originated from elsewhere on the globe, and many who originated here have left; therefore, I consider myself a dying breed.  What backs this up is when I meet people and they ask where I’m from… when I say “Miami”, they’re often shocked.

This poem is pretty self-explanatory.  Sadly many Miamians come off as “cold” to others, or as in the words of many, straight up rude.  Although we’re located in the south, if judged by manners on the street, in restaurants, and on the road, we’re nothing like the south.  We are a diverse little nation of our own, very foreign in a myriad of ways, often unrecognizable as part of America, and for that reason, it’s easy to have a plethora of poems that can begin or end with “That’s so Miami”.

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