MIAMI – Rooftop writings that will soon be greeting people arriving in Miami by air are the work of Miami-Dade County students.
High atop a Wynwood building is a masterpiece in the making.
Randy Burman is an artist and graphic designer. His latest project puts original poems on the tops of two buildings.
"I would like them to be inspired," Burrman said.
The 40 foot letters are big enough to surprise airplane passengers traveling to and from Miami International Airport.
Scott Cunningham is the director and founder of O, Miami, an organization that expands and advances literary culture.
"When we saw this idea of putting poems on rooftops, we said, 'We have no idea how we're going to accomplish that, but we're going to figure it out because that's amazing,'" Cunningham said.
April is poetry month and one of the highlights of O, Miami's year. The organization has a goal of inserting poetry in unexpected places.
"We're trying to reach the person that would never come to a poetry reading," Cunningham said.
"Each year they put out a call for ideas for events and projects, and I can't help myself," Burman said.
This is what Burman's idea will look like when it's done -- one poem atop Mana Wynwood Art Space and another on a Florida International University parking garage. Each poem is written by a young student enrolled at O, Miami's school poetry program. Tywon Williams, 10, came up with one poem that says, "When I look at a cloud, I feel like I am one."
"They just said, 'Be creative,'" Tywon said.
Nieema Marshall, 8, penned the other.
"I am from a place where it does not snow," Nieema said.
The young authors said they're excited about their sky-high exposure, and their principal, Tony Ullivarri, couldn't be prouder.
"Anybody flying in will be able to see the finished product and the work, so it's a great honor for us," Ullivarri said.