Piri Thomas
poet, novelist, activist, educator
El Barrio…. “The street’s got life, man…like a long-awaited dream to come.”
Born Anew at Each A.M.
The street’s got its kicks, man,
like a bargain shelf,
In fact, cool-breeze, it’s got
love like anywhere else.
It’s got lights that shine up the
dark like new.
It sells what you don’t need
And never lets you forget
what you blew.
Vaya! Check it out!
It’s got high-powered
salesmen who push mucho junk,
and hustlers who can swallow you
up in a chunk.
And it’s got our beautiful children
living in all kinds of hell,
hoping to survive and making it well,
swinging together in misty darkness
with all their love to share
smiling their Christ-like forgiveness
that only a ghetto cross can bear.
The street’s got life man,
like a young tender sun,
and gentleness
like a long awaited dream to come.
For our children are beauty
with the right to be born.
Forced to feel racist scorn.
Our children are beauty
with the right to be born.
Born anew at each A.M.
Like a child out of twilight
Flying towards sunlight
Born anew at each A.M.
Punto.
Biography
Poet, novelist, activist, and educator Piri Thomas is considered one of the preeminent figures of New York Puerto Rican literary culture. Born of Puerto Rican and Cuban parents in New York City’s Spanish Harlem in 1928, Mr. Thomas’ early life was marked by poverty, drug use, and criminal activity for which he served seven years in prison. Following that experience, he began a period of rehabilitation and committed to using his life experiences to deter future generations of youth from lives of crime. Mr. Thomas has since lectured at schools and universities across the country and is the author of several books, including Savior, Savior, Hold My Hand; Seven Long Times; and Stories from El Barrio. His first and most famous book, Down These Mean Streets, published in 1967, was listed by the New York Times in 1995 as one of the all-time “10 Best Books About New York City” and is considered a landmark in modern American literature for its concern with issues of poverty, youth violence, imprisonment, and racial identity.