When one thinks of poetry readings, what might come to mind is a coffee house somewhere in New York\u2019s Greenwich Village, not out under the palm trees along Biscayne Bay.<\/p>\n
But a new documentary film invites the viewer to look beyond Miami’s reputation as a capital of glitz, glamour, sand and surf \u2014 and delve straight into the city’s literary soul.<\/p>\n
The film is titled Poetry City, and it\u2019s screening at the Miami Film Festival this week, smack-dab in the middle of National Poetry Month.<\/p>\n
A number of Miami’s most influential poets, spoken-word artists and poetry lovers are interviewed for the film.<\/p>\n
But the major through line is Oscar Fuentes, also known as the “Biscayne Poet.”<\/p>\n
READ MORE: Beloved spoken-word poetry, music organization marking two decades as a South Florida staple<\/a><\/p>\n Fuentes can usually be seen at literary events at a folding table with a small manual typewriter, writing personalized poems for people \u2014 usually based on just three words.<\/p>\n The film’s director, Aaron Glickman, first met Fuentes about 17 years ago at the now-shuttered Wood Tavern in Wynwood.<\/p>\n “He would be there with his typewriter and I was able to observe at that time the effect that he had on people,” says Glickman.<\/p>\n The film was shot last year and culminates with an event during the 2025 Miami Book Fair.<\/p>\n Along the way, Glickman examines Miami’s robust poetry culture through appearances by and interviews with some familiar faces: Richard Blanco, the county\u2019s first Poet Laureate and Presidential Inaugural Poet; Mitchell Kaplan, the owner of Books & Books and co-founder of the Miami Book Fair; and Nicole Tallman, Miami-Dade County’s official Poetry Ambassador.<\/p>\n The film also features last year’s finale of WLRN’s annual ZipOdes<\/a> contest. ZipOdes, the joint creation of literary non-profit O, Miami and WLRN, invites poets across South Florida to write and submit a 5-line poem based on their zip code.<\/p>\n Glickman says the scene in Poetry City that best illustrates the uniqueness of Miami’s poetry culture is when Fuentes holds one of his impromptu sessions on a Biscayne Bay sandbar with kids from the Shake-A-Leg Miami <\/a>program.<\/p>\n The non-profit provides specialized watersports and outdoor adventures for kids and adults with physical, developmental and economic challenges.<\/p>\n “The kids were throwing words out at Oscar and he would take those words and he would create unique poems, in the moment,” says Glickman.<\/p>\n “It was a riveting scene. There’s kids with autism just sitting there mesmerized as Oscar would do his thing. <\/p>\n “It’s something I’ll remember for the rest of my life.”<\/p>\n