Chelsea Rathburn Wins the 2022 Zócalo Poetry Prize

The Georgia Poet Laureate’s ‘8 a.m., Ocean Drive’ Captures an Early Morning in Miami, Where She Is Neither Tourist Nor Citizen

Chelsea Rathburn is the 11th annual winner of the Zócalo Public Square Poetry Prize for “8 a.m., Ocean Drive,” which brings us to the streets of Miami’s South Beach in the interstitial time after last call but before the sidewalk cafes fill. Rathburn, who was born in Jacksonville, Florida, grew up in Miami, and currently lives in Georgia, wrote the poem on a visit back in March 2020, just before the pandemic quieted streets all over the country.

The Zócalo Poetry Prize has been awarded since 2011 to the U.S. writer …