'Miami inmates are...' Writing Poetry

O, Miami's View-Through is an opportunity for Miami-Dade County state correctional facility residents to have their voices heard. The project invites users to enter one of six poems written by local inmates into Google, in order to change what autofills after the phrase "Miami inmates are..." According to Miami New Times reporter Hannah Sentenac, "The poetry-by-prisoners project aims to change Google's algorithm so that the phrase 'Miami inmates are...' is auto-filled by six poems written by local inmates. That way, when a random Google user types in that search phrase, the results offer an entirely different perspective on Miami's incarcerated population." Let's read what O, Miami's founder, P. Scott Cunningham, has to say:

"The whole point of Google is what's important to people," explains P. Scott Cunningham, founder of O, Miami. "These people have voices that are normally not heard; we like to pretend they don't exist. But 95 percent of inmates in state prisons are going to get out eventually. They're a part of our society whether we want to acknowledge it or not."

The effort is a partnership among 110 residents of state correctional facilities in Miami-Dade County; O, Miami; Exchange for Change; and artist Julia Weist.

"We're trying to get websites to host those six terms, and when those terms are already hosted on sites, we're trying to get people to Google those terms," Cunningham says of how the project works. Twenty-five partner organizations have already agreed to host the poems. And basically, the more Googling, the better.

For those who want to participate, the six phrases are as follows:

Miami inmates are sunbathing underwater
Miami inmates are what becomes of the chicken before I fry it up
Miami inmates are a device used to tell time
Miami inmates are light of the world, bone of men
Miami inmates are items of furniture for frightened people to lie down and rest upon
Miami inmates are believing in the unseen

Type the text of the poems into Google, and you help the View-Through effort.

Read more at Miami New Times.