Miami Poetry Festival

In a society where chefs have become pop culture celebrities, Gabrielle Calvocoressi would like for people to eat her words. The 36-year-old poet is the co-founder of a popular literary series in Los Angeles, Eating Our Words, where chefs are paired with writers of all genres for glitzy evenings that satisfy both culinary and intellectual appetites.

Friday, Calvocoressi will bring this tasty concept to South Florida as part of O,Miami, the 30-day poetry festival sponsored by the University of Wynwood and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Through a month-long series of readings and events, the festival aims to expose Miami-Dade's 2.5 million residents to poetry.

Calvocoressi and her Eating Our Words partner, Heather Taylor, will host the first event of the festival's inaugural year at the Boater's Grill at Bill Baggs Cape State Park on Key Biscayne. Taylor is a gallery owner and founder of Taylor de Cordoba. At the event there will be a traditional Cuban pig roast featuring a poetry reading by Tracy K. Smith.

While the sandy setting at Biscayne Bay may not seem as glamorous as a trendy Los Angeles art gallery, Calvocoressi says the energy of the environment plays a huge role in the experience.

"I love Miami. I used to come here as a little girl with my grandmother on vacation. It's always an adventure every time I visit," she says.

Poetry can be a solitary experience for both the poet and the reader, but Calvocoressi seeks ways to break out of that cycle. Programs such as Eating Our Words and this reading in Miami provide a vital social outlet.

"I have my artistic life and it is so solitary. Growing up as a gay kid, I was used to being alone, and now I really spend it alone when I'm working," she explains. "But when it's time to be out reading and be out in the world, I want to be out with people and find a community. I've been incredibly lucky, because I'm someone who likes to have a good time and talk to lots of people. I've found a way to make my solitary poetry life take me all over the world and still eat, somehow."

Calvocoressi is also the author of two collections of poetry, one a finalist for The Los Angeles Times Book Award. She's also a recipient of numerous fellowships and awards, has lectured at Stanford University and serves as the poetry editor for the Los Angeles Review of Books.

Calvocoressi also writes for the Sports Desk column for The Best American Poetry Blog and finds inspiration in American history, seeking out stories that lie behind events that have shaped the nation.

"I would say I write a lot about the notion of community and how people who live on the outside can find a voice and a compassionate life in a world where they get knocked down a lot," Calvocoressi says.

A recent trip to Wyoming inspired a series of poems that were influenced by the murder of Mathew Shepherd.

She says, "We've gotten to a point where many people have forgotten about him. I was fascinated to be there, to be taken out to the land where he was killed. The most striking thing was (the site) is only 200 yards from a housing development. Those sorts of things are what my work is about: Who do we remember? Why do people get up when there's no reason they should? There's a lot of hope in that."

And then she offhandedly chuckles, "I still write a lot about having sex with girls and Los Angeles."

Eating Our Words
O' Miami Poetry Festival
Friday, April 1, 7 p.m
Boater's Grill, Bill Baggs State Park, Key Biscayne
Tickets $30, $20 with student ID
For tickets or more information about the festival, go to OMiami.org