Pedro Pietri Biography
Pedro Pietri was a revolutionary writer who found a way to capture the joys and struggles of Puerto Ricans who had moved to New York City in hopes of a better life, commonly referred to as Nuyoricans. He found an amazing way through his writing to relate to the lives of Latinos and Latinas and used a unique writing style that combined English with Spanish.
Pedro Pietri was born on March 3, 1944 in the city of Ponce, Puerto Rico, where he lived until his family moved to New York City when he was three years old. His father had moved eleven months prior to the family to find work and set up a household for his family. Pedro's father had situated the family into an apartment in the Spanish area of Harlem where Pedro and his family spent most of their lives. As a child Pietri was often read poetry to by his Aunt Irene Rodriguez, which instilled in him a love of poetry and writing. Unexpectedly though in 1949 on New Year's Day, Pietri's father had contracted pneumonia and died after attending a party, leaving Pietri's mother a widow with 5 children.
Soon after Pietri graduated from high school he was drafted into the Vietnam War which impacted him significantly. He had always been a free spirit but also a very political person and coming back from his experiences in Vietnam and dealing with the discrimination he had witnessed while growing up in New York added significantly to his poetry and to his personality. He become very active in Puerto Rican Civil Rights and joined the activist group, The Young Lords. A few years later, in 1969, he created his most renowned poem, "Puerto Rican Obituary", which was published in 1973. The poem was about the hard ships of 5 Puerto Ricans traveling to New York in search of a better life but only finding heartbreak. The poem became a very symbolic poem to many Latinos who found themselves in similar situations.
Apart from Pietri's most famous poems he was also known for being a key founder for The Nuyorican Poets Café. A Café that gave Puerto Rican's the chance to perform their own poetry. Pietri considered Nuyorican poetry the first Puerto Rican literary movement in New York City and was really excited to have a place for intellectuals to share their writings and stories. He was very unhappy though with the new direction that café was being taken in. Holding events such as grand slam rap battles began occurring at the café, and he considered these types of events really disgraceful and disappointing.
In 2003, Pietri was diagnosed with stomach cancer, and went to Mexico for a year to receive alternative treatment. His family, fans, and friends were unbelievably supportive and donated $30,000 to help pay for his care. Unfortunately on his return flight home from Mexico to New York, on March 3, 2004, Pedro Pietri died in air. He was only 59 years old.