Before she was an award-winning poet and educator, Caridad Moro-Gronlier was a little girl in a Miami-Dade County public library who loved to read and read and read and read.
When her parents, Cuban immigrants, bought her books for Christmas, she read them over and over into tatters, like well-loved teddy bears. Maybe one day, she thought to herself, her words could impact someone else the way Judy Blume’s did for her.
Moro-Gronlier, whose writings on self-discovery and community have touched readers in South Florida and beyond, was named Miami-Dade County’s new poet laureate Monday, the start of National Poetry Month. She is the second artist to receive the title following acclaimed poet Richard Blanco. Moro-Gronlier said she was humbled and moved to tears when she heard the news.
READ MORE: He helped us believe that Miami is the most poetic city in the world. Now he’s stepping down
“I say I carry a little girl inside of me, the girl I was, and she was very excited and very proud,” Moro-Gronlier said. “It’s the culmination of a life’s dream from that first book I checked out from the library, that first poem that I read and I thought, ‘Wow, I want to do that.’”
Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said in a statement that it was an honor to appoint Moro-Gronlier to the role. “As a teacher and community-driven poet, I know she will serve Miami-Dade well by helping to increase access to poetry and educational resources for all residents,” she said.
Nicole Tallman, the Miami-Dade County poetry ambassador and county mayor’s director of legislative affairs, recalled a conversation with Blanco on who would be best suited to become the next poet laureate. “Caridad’s name came out of our mouths at practically the same time,” she said.
“This is a role that requires a deep connection to the community, compassion, a love and gift for writing poetry, and the ability to connect people through the power of words,” Tallman said. “I am really excited to see where Caridad takes us next, and look forward to working alongside her to further elevate and celebrate poets and poetry in Miami-Dade County.”
Known for being active in the community, Moro-Gronlier has collaborated with many South Florida organizations and institutions, including but not limited to, Miami-Dade County Public Schools, Miami Dade College, The Wolfsonian Museum, Pérez Art Museum Miami, Miami Book Fair and O, Miami.
Moro-Gronlier serves as The Betsy’s Writer’s Room Poetry-Curator-At- Large and the Associate Editor for SWWIM Every Day, an online daily poetry journal for women identifying poets. She has received a Julia Peterkin Literary Award, two Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs artist grants and an Elizabeth George Foundation Grant. She lives in Westchester with her son and wife and teaches poetry for dual-enrollment high school students at Miami Dade College.
Born in Los Angeles, Moro-Gronlier’s family moved to Miami in 1977 when she was 8. Creativity defined her childhood, she said. Music was her first love. As a child, she sang classic Cuban songs, rich with storytelling, drama and folklore. She kept diaries in the 7th grade. She wrote “bad, tortured” love poems in college algebra classes. But it wasn’t until the early 2000s after her son was born in that she really took her writing seriously.
When he was 6-months-old, she enrolled in a poetry class at Miami Dade College’s writers institute, kicking off her “non-official MFA.” She did workshops, read voraciously and studied great poets. In 2009, she published “Visionware,” a chapbook of poems on family and separation.
In 2021, she published “Tortillera: Poems,” a semi-autobiographical poetry book that won the TRP Southern Poetry Breakthrough Prize. The poetry was largely inspired by Moro-Gronlier’s life growing up in Miami as a queer, Cuban-American woman. In “Tortillera,” she tackles her divorce from her husband, her lesbian identity, Cuban culture and society’s expectations of women. She tackled homophobia head-on with the book’s title by reclaiming the Spanish slur for lesbian.
Moro-Gronlier has seen the power of poetry firsthand. At a “Tortillera” reading event, Moro-Gronlier recalled, a woman said that she loved reading the book but hated the title. The woman, who was Cuban, a lesbian and of an older generation, asked why should would name the book that.
“That’s exactly why I titled the book that. I wanted to get to this conversation,” Moro-Gronlier said. “A word can shackle someone’s life. I refuse to be shackled in that way.”
At the same reading, one of Moro-Gronlier’s former students approached her. He confided in her that he suffered with depression as a student but always looked forward to her class because the literature spoke to him. Fifteen years later, he was dealing with a depressive episode when he saw that she was having a book reading for her poems. He took it as a sign.
“It’s a moment that shows you that we go through life planting seeds,” she said. “What those seeds will sprout is dependent on a lot of things, but in that moment, I saw that the seeds that I’ve planted, sprouted this beautiful human being who felt safe enough to be vulnerable and to share something intimate and true and beautiful. I felt really, really, really lucky. That was all because of the poetry.”
Moro-Gronlier believes everyone has a poem inside them, whether they know it or not. As poet laureate, Moro-Gronlier is excited to engage with the community to help them find that poem.
She wants to reach people with poetic projects throughout Miami-Dade County, especially children to get them “to love poetry before they decide they hate it.” There’s always a revelation when people commune with words, she said.
“We live in such tension-filled times that I think everyone has a need to set something down,” she said. “And I’d love to be the help, the hand, the bridge that helps them find the words that they want to share.”
This story was produced with financial support from individuals and Berkowitz Contemporary Arts in partnership with Journalism Funding Partners, as part of an independent journalism fellowship program. The Miami Herald maintains full editorial control of this work.
