Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Donald Justice’s "Miami of Other Days" is a nostalgic and improvisational exploration of the city in its formative years, capturing its charm, chaos, and contradictions. Through vivid imagery and reflective tone, Justice recreates a Miami that is not yet the bustling metropolis of today but a simpler, dreamlike place—its identity still forming and shaped by transitory lives, cultural collisions, and an underlying air of mystery. The poem is both a love letter and an elegy, juxtaposing the innocence of Miami’s past with the complex realities that linger beneath its surface.

The opening lines set the tone with a declaration: “The city was not yet itself. It had, / In those days, the simplicity of dawn.” This immediately positions Miami as a nascent entity, brimming with potential yet untouched by the complications of time. The “simplicity of dawn” suggests a new beginning, a moment of purity and quiet beauty before the full light of day exposes flaws and complexities. The image of bonfires on the beach evokes a nostalgic yearning for “the lights of cities / Left behind,” highlighting Miami’s transient population, many of whom brought their histories and hopes to this burgeoning locale. The firelight, combined with the “new white jazz” of a Victrola, evokes an atmosphere of communal warmth and celebration, tempered by an undercurrent of longing for what was left behind.

Justice’s sensory details anchor the poem in the physical and cultural textures of early Miami. The “hot afternoons” and “sultry” sea breeze create a stifling atmosphere, relieved only by the “grateful awnings” of downtown shops. The shops themselves, with their “foreign language spoken / With the sound of parrots,” highlight the city’s cultural diversity and exotic allure. This is not yet the cosmopolitan Miami of today, but a city finding its voice, shaped by immigrants and transplants whose languages and customs intermingle like the natural and artificial elements of the landscape.

The inclusion of “crackers down from Georgia” situates the poet’s own roots within this setting, offering a personal connection to the city’s transient population. These “crackers,” described as gathering on the post-office steps, form “a sort of club” where they exchange news from home. This small detail underscores the human need for connection and familiarity amid the dislocation of migration, emphasizing Miami’s role as a crossroads of different lives and stories.

Justice’s portrayal of Miami is steeped in surreal and magical imagery. The city is a place where “gods slept under tabernacle tents” or “dwelt beneath the still pure river, rising / From time to time for breath, like great sea cows.” These divine and mythical elements lend a dreamlike quality to the city’s past, suggesting a time when Miami’s identity was as fluid and mysterious as the waters surrounding it. The mention of “sidewalk photographers with alligator props” adds a touch of humor and kitsch, capturing the whimsical and performative aspects of the city’s early days. These images blend the fantastical with the mundane, reflecting Miami’s unique character as a space where nature, culture, and imagination converge.

Beneath this charm, however, lies a darker undercurrent. Justice notes that “there was no history, there were only the storms / And the great bourgeois criminals safely lodged / In tile-roofed bungalows.” This line introduces a sense of foreboding, suggesting that Miami’s idyllic facade masks a history of violence and moral ambiguity. The “great bourgeois criminals” embody the contradictions of the city: their “bloody and circumspect” lives suggest both affluence and secrecy, aligning with Miami’s reputation as a haven for both glamour and corruption.

The poem’s concluding section shifts into a more lyrical and meditative mode, addressing Miami’s legacy and its emotional resonance for the poet. Justice calls Miami the “Magic City,” a term that reflects both its allure and its elusiveness. The metaphors of the “Aquarium of the little grounded yacht” and the “Bandshell of gardenia moons” capture the city’s delicate balance between artifice and natural beauty. These images suggest a place suspended between land and sea, reality and fantasy—a city defined as much by its aspirations as by its geography.

The final lines introduce Dr. Seward, an “astronomer” who tips his “tall hat / (Like a magician’s) each night to the stars.” Dr. Seward embodies a sense of wonder and possibility, his nightly gestures symbolizing Miami’s connection to the vastness of the cosmos and the infinite potential of its own future. The “scatterings of applause” that circle in “the orbits of the lost” evoke both celebration and melancholy, suggesting that the dreams and achievements of Miami’s past continue to reverberate even as they fade into memory.

In "Miami of Other Days," Justice captures the city’s essence during a formative period, blending nostalgia with an awareness of the complexities and contradictions beneath its surface. The poem’s improvisational style mirrors the fluid and evolving nature of Miami itself, a city shaped by its people, its environment, and its dreams. Through rich imagery and reflective tone, Justice creates a portrait of Miami that is both intimate and expansive, a place where personal and collective histories converge in a haze of sunlight, jazz, and memory.

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