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Poetry Sweeping South Florida Thanks to Jason Taylor Foundation

They have names like the Standing Stanzas of Piper High, the Viking Freedom Writers from Norland High School, and they are setting new standards of cool.

What are they? They are poets. Yes, poetry is suddenly sweeping South Florida, thanks to an effort sponsored by Jason Taylor, the former Miami Dolphin defensive end.

“They walk around with their heads high and their chests puffed out, it’s giving them the same cache as a football player at school,” said Darius Daughtrey, Director of Poetry Programs at the Jason Taylor Foundation.

“We’re always looking for different avenues for these kids to express themselves and learn and grow and be exposed to different walks of life,” Taylor said.

So the tough former football player, perhaps not the type of person you think of when you think of a poet, got together with the staff at his foundation and came up with poetry as a vehicle to take kids where they need to go.

“It gives them confidence, it validates them, it lets them know that what their story is and who they are is important and meaningful,” Daughtrey said, “And they’re proud to be a poet walking around their campus.”

The new-found cache of poetry is drawing kids into the Jason Taylor Foundation’s Blu Apple Poetry Network, a group of clubs that meet after school.

The students write long-form, spoken-word poetry, sometimes choreographed in groups like a capella singers, and compete in poetry slams and perform in events like the upcoming O, Miami Poetry Festival.

Performance poetry lifted Zo Williams, a student at Piper High, out of trouble and onto a more rewarding path.

It’s stories like his that drew actor and poet Omari Hardwick to join Blu Apple as a mentor.

“I just feel like I wanted to be a part of their poem, so maybe I’m part of it, when they’re 40 years-old maybe they can look back and say, ‘O’ was a pretty good actor, he was a better friend,” Hardwick said.

Blu Apple started with a handful of kids at one school, and in three short years has mushroomed to more than 500 middle and high school students taking part at more than 50 schools, from Homestead to Fort Pierce.

“Most of these kids just want to see that somebody cares, somebody has interest and is willing to help them," explained Taylor. "We always tell them, we’re not here to give you a handout, we’re here to give you a hand."

They’re not finished growing yet. Hardwick says he wants kids in Atlanta, New Orleans, Chicago and Los Angeles to have a bite at the Blu Apple, too.

“We would like to move into other cities where Blu Apple has a face and a presence that is louder than just Broward County, that’s the goal,” Hardwick said.

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