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Poems for the sky at Miami International Airport

Mock up of the poem by 3rd grader Nieema Marshall being painted on a rooftop near Miami International Airport

If you’re flying to or from Miami International Airport anytime soon, there’s a new reason to book a window seat on the plane.

Each year during April, National Poetry Month, the annual O, Miami poetry festival tries to fulfill its mission of having everyone in Miami-Dade County encounter a poem at least once during the month.

In the past, program participants have put lines of poetry on bandannas worn by dogs and painted poems inside urinals.

One of this year’s projects is called “Poems To The Sky” – a project by Randy Burman, who last year put poems on the wrappers of popsicles that were handed out for free.

This year Burman is painting poems by local students in letters 40 feet high onto the roof tops of two buildings that sit in the flight paths of planes landing and taking off at Miami International Airport.

“The unknowing window seat occupant who just happens to look out the window as they are taking off to the east or landing from the west is the winner,” said Burman via email. “Having people discovering a poem in a place they never expected it is the ideal.”

Here’s the poem by 3rd grader Nieema Marshall that passengers will see:

I am
from
a place
where
it does
not snow

And here’s the roof poem by 4th grader Tywon Williams:

When I look
at a cloud
I feel like
I am one

Mock up of the poem by 4th grader Tywon Williams that will soon be visible to fliers at Miami International Airport

Poem painting is underway – the pictures here are mock-ups of the finished product – and the goal is have both poems finished by the end of the month, with no plans yet for when the poems might be removed.