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La Carreta, Tremendo Slideshow And Banyan Trees: The Best Of That's So Miami

Here we go again!  Check out some of our favorite #ThatsSoMiami poems from the last couple of days. Like what you see? Check out our Tumblr page, where we collect your submissions and post them for your viewing (laugh out loud) pleasure. Click here to make your submission.

(Maryan Firpo)

Here’s the thing about Miami—

There’s an ancient monastery

next to a state park next to a nude beach

With a rehab center a little ways west

and a bunch of shopping centers nearby

All surrounding a college campus. That’s So Miami.

 

(Rosabel Peralta)

I thought I could be on time

for my best friend’s wedding,

but there was a huge accident just in front of me.

That’s so Miami.

 

(Miriam Rosen)

At La Carreta I order the Miami Sandwich—

En espanol…I say,

“Miami Sandwich, por favor…”

And then I wish I COULD

Say so much more:

…”And the little foaming coffee 

In the dollhouse cup…”

…”And the little custard

In the pleated silver bowl…”

…”And the Cuban bread—

Sliced, buttered, toasted, pressed…”

Dios mio! THAT’s the stuff

I love the best!

What’s even worse—

I don’t know the names of these desserts…

Strange, because I dream in Spanish,

Then, I awake, La Gringa still…

And speak it only

At La Carreta,

And, even then,

Only in spurts!

That’s so Miami!

 

(Patricia Calderon, Cutler Bay)

Oh! when you wake up to the sound of singing birds
Driving on the path of Old Cutler Road
Watching the magnificent Banyan trees, waving at your sight
Thinking that once Buddha was enlightened under their shade.
That’s so Miami.

Oh! When you smell the ocean and watch the blue water, calm; soft white sand.
That’s so Miami 

Oh! When you see the colors of the sunset changing reds, pinks with light blue colors, each one never the same 
That’s so Miami…

Oh! When you open your windows and breathe the fresh air, 
you think, no matter what goes on in your life, there is no room to be depressed.

 

(Nerry Louis, Hollywood, FL)

Beautiful people of all

Shades and hue

Griot, tostones, jerk chicken

White sands and ocean blue

Que bola? Sak pase? and ya mon:

People of various tongues,

Flags of different nationalities 

Fly free,

Where is this place?

That’s so Miami.

 

(Marcus Mills)

One second you’re fabulous,

next second you’re in the hood. 

That’s so Miami.

 

(Jack Superson)

Where would we be without you Fidel?

That’s so Miami

Daniel Rivero is part of WLRN's new investigative reporting team. Before joining WLRN, he was an investigative reporter and producer on the television series "The Naked Truth," and a digital reporter for Fusion. He can be reached at drivero@wlrnnews.org
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