By Leslie Ovalle, WLRN
Think about what poetry means to you — and think about times when you read a poem and it made you see the world differently.
That's the idea behind the new public art installation called “Opa-locka Light District.” It highlights places in the city by using streetlamps to project poems written by the community. It was created through a partnership between the Opa-locka Community Development Corporation and O, Miami.
Ten city streetlamps along Opa-Locka Boulevard have been transformed into poetry projection devices to display original short poems written by local residents. This is a map of all off the poem's locations.
“It reminds me of my teen years when I was dating and living in Opa-locka. I would often go to the historic train station prior to it being rehabilitated. And it was just the platform. And I would sit there and write poetry while I often waited for the person that was my boyfriend at that time to get out of aviation class,” said Femi Folami Browne, one of the writers featured in the project. “We didn't have cell phones then, and I knew if I'd gone home, I might be late. So I would use that time to just go to the train station and write.”
It features ten poems written by local residents. Street lamps along Opa-locka Boulevard were transformed into projection devices that shine the verses on the city’s sidewalks and historic buildings.
View the entire article here: https://www.wlrn.org/2021-08-05/ums-vaccine-requirement-the-birth-and-betrayal-series-and-opa-locka-poetry