Language. Migration. Coconut trees. Family.
These are just a few of the topics Miami native Tati Perez has explored in penning more than 90 ZipOdes.
It鈥檚 a format created by SA国际传谋 and O鈥� Miami that turns the least lyrical designation of one鈥檚 home 鈥� a ZIP code 鈥� into an occasion for poetry.
Perez has been featured as a select poet at Vizcaya, and one of her poems appears in , which celebrated the 10th anniversary of the ZipOde last year.
READ MORE: Using salsa to get rid of roaches - a Miami poetic experience
Perez took the format as an opportunity to write about all the ZIP codes she鈥檚 lived in throughout her life in Miami.
鈥溾�奍 was actually on a walk one day and I saw a street sign that had a poem on it. It felt like a very deliberate call out to me in that moment. So, it made me wanna look up more鈥hat鈥檚 how I found out about, O鈥橫iami,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 figured, I鈥檝e lived in a lot of different neighborhoods by this point鈥�.I just really wanted to see more of what they were about.鈥�
In one of her most recent ZipOde poems, Perez focuses on her experience with public transit. She moved to North Miami last year and has used the local bus system to get around.
The bus takes
me on a
World
Tour every day. Spanish, Creole, Russian
Reverberate off each other and create one resonant sound.Tati Perez, 33169
When her headphones die, she doesn鈥檛 panic. She actually enjoys a decent amount of background noise to get out of her own head. Being bilingual (English and Spanish), Perez enjoys listening to the diverse mix of languages and accents coming together.
鈥溾�夾s I take the 75 bus east, you just generally notice like the tapestry of things are changing, the ebb and flow of different languages coming and going,鈥� Perez said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 [like when]things are harmonizing just perfectly in a song and everything鈥檚 okay just for a little bit.鈥�
Perez sees her experience on public transit as a reminder that parts of the social contracts are still intact.
鈥淏us drivers can be friendly, people can be cool. It鈥檚 not all doom and gloom here.鈥�
Poetry month runs through the end of April. Anyone can submit a Zip Ode poem online via SA国际传谋. The community reading will take place at Vizcaya Museum and Gardens on Wednesday, April 29, at 6 p.m. Early bird admission is $10, while regular admission $15.
