‘The family is now the city.’ The Poetry Potluck to host Family Cookout in Miami Gardens
It started in Calvin Early’s backyard.
The Miami native had a simple goal — to bridge the gap between the newcomers and veterans of South Florida’s spoken-word scene — but wanted to do so in a comfortable environment. So he told people to bring a dish representative of their culture and meet at his house.
“It has become something that I never ever intended for it to be,” Early said of the 2018 gathering that evolved into the Poetry Potluck. “I never thought it would build the community around it that it has.”
More than five years later, the Poetry Potluck will partner with the city of Miami Gardens for its first “Family Cookout” on Jan. 13 at the Betty T. Ferguson Recreational Complex. The cookout will have all the usual features of the Poetry Potluck — a marketplace, live performances, food vendors — but also a “Big Jits Corner” with a bounce house and crafts for children ages 1 to 100.
“At a potluck, usually everybody knows everybody,” the Poetry Potluck founder said. “Now, the family is now the city and everybody is bringing out their families and everybody is having their own individual potlucks.”
Early’s emphasis on family has been one of the secret ingredients to the Poetry Potluck’s success. Attendees are called “cuzzins.” Sponsors and vendors are called “friends of the family.” And the potluck itself is called a “gathering” rather than an event.
“If I want this to be a family, I have to speak of it like a family,” Early said. “So that people behave like it’s a family and that the culture becomes a family.”
Couple the familial atmosphere with the sheer talent of the performers and it’s no wonder that the gatherings have attracted upward of 500 people.
“Everybody was just authentically being themselves,” Poetry Potluck operational manager Sabrina Williams said. Aside from the poets, she has seen a singer, a saxophone player and even a roller skater perform. “There’s always different type of creatives who are open to sharing their stuff.”
The atmosphere immediately stood out to Miami Gardens Councilman Reggie Leon when he attended a potluck in April. Within a month, he reached out to Early about how they could bring the potluck to his community.
“It’s a wonderful program, it’s something positive and it gets the people going,” Leon said. “Anything to showcase the community in the positive light, I’m for it.”
Although the expansion makes Early a bit nervous, it will give him the opportunity to accomplish one of his main goals — “to host potlucks in primarily Black spaces.” Plus, it’s not like he hasn’t brought the potluck to Liberty City, Allapattah and even Brooklyn.
“People truly take ownership of it,” Early said, adding that that’s how he has managed to create the same environment in Miami and beyond. “When you have something that you hold near and dear to you, you only want to bring the best people into it.”
One supporter was none other than Liberty City businessman and activist Danny Agnew, who died in a car accident in June. Whether in Early’s backyard, the Roots Blackhouse or New York City, Agnew always showed up.
“His contribution to the potluck is unmatched,” Early said. Agnew donated not just time and energy, but also money. “No single person has done more than him,” Early said.
And though Agnew might not be there physically, there’s no doubt he will be there in spirit.
“Danny would be happy today to see us do it in Miami Gardens because that was a place he was thinking of expanding,” Williams said.
IF YOU GO
WHAT: Poetry Potluck: First Annual Family Cookout!
WHEN: 3-8 p.m. Jan. 13
WHERE: Betty T. Ferguson Recreational Complex, 3000 NW 199th St., Miami Gardens
TICKETS: Free entry for the public with donations accepted. $100 fee for merchandise vendors; $150 fee for food vendors.
Visit https://www.eventbrite.com/e/poetry-potluck-1st-annual-family-cookout-registration-765238287317 for more information
This story was originally published January 3, 2024 at 6:00 AM.
