Under the shade of a tree canopy in Everglades National Park, Miami-based poet Arsimmer McCoy asks her students to sit on the bare, earthy trail before reading to them from one of her favorite books, Tigerflower by Robert Vavra.
"The birds are his friends and not his dinner," she begins. As if on cue, a crow broodingly caws from the tree above in a dramatic, gothic fashion. It seems to eye the bright-eyed and spirited students laughing at its interruption.
McCoy continues, "No one has to be any way but the way he is." The crow, too, grabs the kids' attention every time it squawks from the branches over them.
After McCoy is finished reading, she tasks students with a writing prompt: "I want you guys to write me a poem about being in this space. What does it bring up for you?"
The third-through-fifth graders from Orchard Villa Elementary in Liberty City sit ready for poetic inspiration to strike their pencils like lightning, awaking their inner artist to paint a lyrical portrait of the world in their notebooks.
When they're done writing, they take turns reading their pieces in front of one another. McCoy compliments them and points out what literary techniques they incorporated, like imagery or similes.
The field trip, which happened in February, was made possible by O, Miami, the nonprofit organization fostering South Florida’s literary community through poetry. O, Miami and WLRN have been partners for more than 10 years, a collaboration that brought to life Zip Odes, the five-line poem based on a zip code.
READ MORE: 16,000 poems and counting: ZipOdes judge sees South Florida through everybody else's eyes
Eleven schools in Miami-Dade County are part of O, Miami’s education program, Sunroom. Every school year, an artist working in South Florida is chosen as the school’s resident Sunroom teacher.
At Orchard Villa Elementary, McCoy is the poet-in-residence. It was her idea to bring her students to the Everglades to observe the flora and fauna of this ecosystem.
"The goal is to get them writing everywhere. I want them to write on the bus, the train, in the car. I want them to write in between their video games," she tells WLRN.
"I want them to see it as as a tool to get all those thoughts out. Specifically with nature, I want to see what spawns from them, what happens when they get in the stillness, what changes for them when they're in the quiet."
This program helps boost students' reading comprehension. Being outside is also great for mental health. The National Institute of Health has linked exposure to nature to improved cognitive function, brain activity, sleep and more.
On top of all of that, McCoy says it gives students, particularly Black students, a sense of belonging.
" This is a space that is ours as well. It is a space that oftentimes feels like it's not for us to enjoy," she says, explaining that Black children sometimes grow up believing that nature "is a place of danger more than it is a place of rest or a place of recreation."
McCoy is Black and most of the children on this field trip are, too. Liberty City is about 10 minutes north of downtown Miami and it's a part of the county with little green space.
"The babies need to breathe and so I hope that today like they're getting that," McCoy says. "I love them and I know — I know — that it makes an impact."
Seen on the Anhinga Trail
For most of the students, this outdoor excursion is their first time visiting Everglades National Park.
Park ranger Patty Palma guides the group on the Anhinga Trail, named after the water-diving bird that spreads its wings wide in the air to dry off its feathers after swimming.
The anhinga is one of the animals the kids are on the lookout for. They’re taking everything in. From the perfectly opaque blue sky, to the herons hunting for lunch. But the 6-feet sunbathing alligators are the main show.
Students are shocked by the sheer size and complete stillness of the creatures, so much so that a debate over them breaks out.
"That's fake," one quips.
"That's real," his friend responds. "It's a real alligator why would it be fake?"
"I'm not sure it's real," another student muses. "It looks kinda fake."
"We're trying to see as many habitats and as many wild animals as we can as possible," ranger Palma tells WLRN.
That’s the norm for the park tours she guides. Plus, she says, observing this landscape and its inhabitants helps foster the desire to protect the environment.
"You can't protect what you don't understand. You can't appreciate it," Palma says. "Our goal is to create park stewards at the end of the day and if students and the future generations don't know what is natural to their space, [then] they have no understanding of what it means to them."
'Full of light and delight'
For student Q’moni Robinson, this is her first time in the Everglades. She's mesmerized by the alligators and surprised by the great egret, she says, because the bird has "a very long neck."
Q'moni says her poetry class with Sunroom teacher McCoy is "fascinating." On this out-of-classroom experience, the prompt McCoy assigned led her allowed her to unleash her imaginative version of a perfect world.
Reading from her notebook, Q'moni recites her poem: "Once upon a time, long, long ago, a princess named Q’moni. She was in her own world. It had lots and lots of flowers and beauty. It was full of light and delight."
The clouds are pink and the forest, too, "gleamed with pink."
"The princess said, ‘Oh my, I love with pride forever and ever.' The end."
