Puerto Rican Obituary

First published in 1973, Pedro Pietri’s “Puerto Rican Obituary” is an epic poem of the Nuyorican movement that has been widely anthologized. Literary scholars and critics often refer to Pietri, a Puerto Rican immigrant to the US, as the poet laureate of this movement, which began in the 1960s in New York City. The 300-plus line poem, about the struggles of five Puerto Rican immigrants in New York City, is considered to be his greatest work. “Puerto Rican Obituary” concerns the challenges these five immigrants—Juan, Miguel, Milagros, Olga, and Manuel—face while living and working in New York as well as the ways capitalism warps their experiences of the United States and their memories of Puerto Rico. By the end of the poem, each individual is jealous of the others’ possessions, implying that each sees the others as more successful in their attempts to adapt to their new country, even as the speaker asserts, “PUERTORRIQUENOS ARE A BEAUTIFUL RACE” (Line 274).

Poet Biography

Pedro Pietri (1944-2004) was born in Ponce, Puerto Rico. When he was three, his family immigrated to Harlem in New York City after his father secured a position as a dishwasher at the St. Regis Hotel. Though he would not begin writing poetry until high school, his aunt, Irene Rodriguez, who performed poetry and theater at the First Spanish United Methodist Church in East Harlem, was an early inspiration to him. Pietri worked in the garment district after high school, until he was drafted into a light infantry brigade of the US Army during Vietnam. This experience informed his later work and led him to dedicate himself to poetry upon his return to the United States.

He gave the first reading of “Puerto Rican Obituary” in the same church in which his aunt had performed and where his family worshipped, in 1969, during a period when the church had been taken over by the Young Lords, a civil and human rights organization run by fellow Puerto Ricans. His connection with this activist group was the first of many such affiliations throughout his adulthood.

Along with several other poets, he helped found the Nuyorican movement and the Nuyorican Poets Café, in New York City, which became the unofficial headquarters for many Puerto Rican and Latino writers. During this time, he composed political works including El Puerto Rican Embassy, which was performed throughout New York City. Before performances, Pietri often sang “The Spanglish National Anthem” and passed out facsimiles of Puerto Rican passports that contained poetry and pictures of objects commonly associated with Puerto Rico.

In 2003, Pietri traveled to Mexico for alternative medical treatment for stomach cancer. He died en route to New York on March 3, 2003.

Poem Text

Pietri, Pedro. “Puerto Rican Obituary.” 1973. Poetry Foundation.

Summary

Pietri’s epic poem begins by describing the work ethic of immigrants in New York:

They worked

They were always on time

They were never late

They never spoke back (Lines 1-4).

Stanza 1 continues to emphasize their effort, explaining that “They worked / ten days a week / and were only paid for five” (Lines 12-13).

Stanza 2 introduces the names of five specific Puerto Ricans: Juan, Miguel, Milagros, Olga, and Manuel. This stanza also refers directly to the “Obituary” of the title, explaining that “All died yesterday today / and will die again tomorrow” (Lines 28-29). In this stanza, the reader learns that they spent their lives “dreaming about america” (Line 37), only to be disappointed by “grocery stores / that sold them make-believe steak / and bullet-proof rice and beans” (Lines 43-45).

Stanzas 3 and 4 continue in the same vein, making first mention of the five peoples’ alienation from their roots: “Dead Puerto Ricans / Who never knew they were Puerto Ricans” (Lines 47-48). The stanzas continue describing the poverty the speaker of the poem introduces in Stanza 2. Likewise, Stanza 5 considers their circumstances as individuals, with each of them dying “waiting” (Line 64, 66, 69, 73, & 75) for something to happen to them in the United States, whether winning the lottery, awaiting the maturation of one’s “ten children” (Line 69), or seeking a better work environment.

Stanza 6 describes the effort it takes to travel “from Spanish Harlem / to long island cemetery” (Lines 78-79), while Stanza 7 begins with a refrain including the five names of the Puerto Rican immigrants, the repetition of individual lines, and mention of their deaths. Unlike Stanza 5, with its emphasis on what they lacked, Stanza 6 focuses on their dreams, which are not unlike the typical American dream. But even these dreams have a dark side, as they imagine that they “belong to a community / of gringos who want them lynched” (Lines 107-108). Pietri continues to consider their dreams in the following two stanzas, focusing on the specifics of “These empty dreams” (Line 113). They each dream of being part of “the ideal / white american family” (Lines 117-118). Specifically, they dream of accumulating wealth and buying power.

Stanza 8 returns to reality, where

They all died

like a hero sandwich dies

in the garment district

at twelve o’clock in the afternoon (Lines 136-139).

The stanza enumerates a series of mundanities, referring to social security cards, union dues, seeing one’s name in the phone book, and laundry receipts. Stanza 9 marks a transition from life to death, where “the number one healer / and fortune card dealer / in Spanish Harlem” (Lines 160-162) is engaged to contact the dead. This interaction occurs in the hope that the dead can help the living determine the best lottery numbers to play.

The following stanzas, 10 and 11, repeat the names of the dead and introduce both Christianity and government functionaries, including the IRS, legal system, and bill collectors. Stanza 12 offers a slight glimmer of hope in the form of a description of a successful assimilation experience:

They are dead

and will not return from the dead

until they stop neglecting

the art of their dialogue—

for broken english lessons

to impress the mister goldsteins—

who keep them employed (Lines 209-214).

Sadly, these hopes for gainful employment result in acts of menial labor that reduces the immigrants to competitors, and they turn on each other, “hating” (Lines 229, 233, 237, 240, & 244) one another for the possessions they each lack.

Stanzas 13 and 14 bring the five individuals back together, in the cemetery, where, because they are “Always broke / Always owing” (Lines 267-268), they never know “that they are beautiful people” (Line 269). Stanza 15 provides a significant shift, signaled by two lines that consist of all capital letters (Lines 273-274). These lines assert the pride the five, and others, should have in their origins and push back against “the white supremacy bibles” (Line 279) that keep them from realizing that “their latino souls” (Line 281) are “the only religion of their race” (Line 282).

After repeating their names once more, Stanza 16 suggests that the five are back where they belong, “where beautiful people sing / and dance and work together” (Lines 298-299). This is a place where people speak Spanish “all the time” (Line 306) and have not been infected by the trappings of life in the US. Only in death are the five able to realize that “to be called negrito / means to be called LOVE” (Lines 314-315).