National Poetry Month is here and the crew at How Pedestrian, a video blog that seeks to make poetry more accessible to the general public, is in town to help the organizers behind O, Miami bring a poem to every person in Miami-Dade county before the end of the month. For 11 days, the team behind How Pedestrian will fan out across the county and bribe and beg famous and not-so-famous people to read poems on video in everyday spaces, such as Miami International Airport, Lincoln Road, the University of Miami campus, and, my favorite, the DMV.

How Pedestrian is bringing poetry to life in Miami. They spent one day on the lush, tropical campus of the University of Miami and recorded unsuspecting students reading poems by O, Miami participants Gabrielle Calvocoressi and Tracey K. Smith. It seems they had a better time recording people on video at the university than they did on Miami Beach where the beachgoers seemed more interested in the beach than reading poems on camera. Click here and here for examples.

Before How Pedestrian fled to Miami from the frigid ice palace of Toronto, Canada, they  posted this on their website: “As I mentioned before, How Pedestrian will be doing roughly ten days of filming in various neighbourhoods (and in various languages) around Miami, and posting videos –and summaries of our experiences—along the way.”

How Pedestrian did find a willing street vendor to recite a poem in front of camera on Miami Beach. The vendor read a poem by Joan Murray called “We Old Dudes”. Be sure to keep your eyes and ears open for more poetry in and around unexpected places in Miami-Dade. Maybe you’ll get a chance to recite one for How Pedestrian.

View the entire O, Miami/How Pedestrian archive complied here.

O, Miami is a county-wide poetry festival inaugurating in April 2011. Produced by the University of Wynwood and funded by the  John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, O, Miami is a month-long series of events and projects with the simple goal of every person in Miami-Dade County finding a poem. O, Miami culminates in a four-day series of readings from April 27-30, 2011 at the Frank Gehry-designed New World Symphony Hall on Miami Beach. For a full listing of events visit www.omiami.org. For more information about How Pedestrian visit www.howpedestrian.ca.