Papolítico: Poems of a Political Persuasion by Jesus Papoleto Meléndez
by Dimitri Reyes
Like the poets of the Beats and Black Arts movements, the Nuyorican Movement of the 60’s and 70’s also played a large part in what takes shape as the cultural and intellectual reinvention of poetics as well as what constitutes as the performance canon for our current stage and page poets. Arguably, poetry in its nature has always been a political mechanism of feeling and the exploration of self-worth and continues to expand that definition of nature and worthiness into an art that is continuously transforming itself; especially within the past 60 years. But why is it that such a diverse, fresh, and “woke” art form like poetry has its artists (the poets) reaching back in time to an older group of writers that didn’t don a Dickinsonian or Wordsworthian last name? Especially such a subset of poetry culture like the Nuyorican poets?
If you are a poetry appreciator that remembers Def Poetry Jam like myself, you may recall familiar poets like Sonia Sanchez, Patricia Smith, Reg E. Gaines, Lemon, Willie Perdomo, and Kevin Coval reciting their pieces. These artists and others of the performance canon come from different places in the United States but all went through the Nuyorican Poets Cafe and this wasn’t by accident. The Nuyorican Poetry Cafe (or simply, The Nuyorican), established originally as a living room salon in an East Village apartment in 1973, was an intellectual space for writers and musicians of color whose work didn’t line up with mainstream academia, the entertainment industry, or the publishing industry. When the performance poetry scene became a vital element of Latinx and Black culture, the “Nuyorican Poetry” anthology was released in 1975 and by 1981, both the Nuyorican and Black Arts movements continuing unification at the Nuyorican gave it enough precedence to purchase an old tenement building. Out of the new and improved cafe, they ran the series as well as expanded their operations into community programming and became one of the premier arts organizations for POC poetry and music.
Currently, some of the most popular page poets are coming from the generation of spoken word performance, and whether or not recognized, they are arguably channeling performances in the spirits of Miguel Algarín Jr., Miguel Piñero, Sandra María Estevez, Pedro Pietri, and Jesús Papoleto Meléndez. Lots of the style and flair seen in today’s best poetry writers and performers that are “breaking new grounds” on the subjects of poverty, race, gender, and equality, all share the same facets with their Nuyorican predecessors who have been voicing these experiences since the movement’s inception — often times not even realizing the level of politics they were engaging with. Though the Nuyorican Movement is seen as an artistic and sociopolitical one, the thoughts of those within the movement were less of political stances and more of the ways in which those writers functioned within society. For example, Jesús Papoleto Meléndez, one of the founders of the Nuyorican, states in the preface to his most recent book, Papolítico:
“It seems to me that in my early development as a poet, it took quite a while
to start writing “politically.” However when I review my big brown
leather book where my poems are logged in the chronological order as
they were created, the reader almost immediately becomes aware of social
consciousness, replete in even my adolescent observations…
So even back then, my political perspective, though somewhat obscure, was a visceral rather than intellectual, experience for me. Its hypocrisy, the parent of all evil that irritates me the most because it is an ironic interplay of self-righteousness. Thus, the ironic moment, which is found in most of my poetry, has become the inspirational spark from which my imagination and sense of political conviction merge.”
Papolítico is an incredible work that showcases just how much the world hasn’t changed since his days in The Nuyorican salon. Late in the collection, Papoleto features the poem, “The Flood Came to Puerto Rico” where the poet writes, “the flood came to Puerto Rico/ & with it came the red cross/ after the flood/ to search for Donald Trump’s* golf courses/ & summer homes.” Considering the context of the current state of Puerto Rico within the past year as well as the United States’ engagement (or lack thereof) with the island, this poem is very timely as well as beautiful in its sublimity of its messages throughout. Papoleto can do what many of the Latinx writers have been able to accomplish within their work about their homeland, being able to pay homage to their places of origin without the deliverance of a negative or positive romanticizing of its cities, towns, and villages. This poem is no exception in the way the island spurs up, “the warmth of afternoon subs/ where the beautiful culture this is mine once sang sang/ its loveliness over the hills & mountains” while also balancing it with 1st world voyeurism, “the flood came to Puerto Rico/ & american airlines are taking pictures/ for their advertisements of their new lagoons/ where the kennedy family will vacation this summer.” Nor is it a coincidence that this was an older piece that was updated ever-so slightly as there is a footnote at the end of the poem calling attention to the asterisk by 45th’s name, stating that the original version in 1971 reads: “rockefeller’s summer home.”
Papoleto makes his work playfully and intently show the reader “the way.” His work also aims to trick his audience through comedy and storytelling, often times the reader realizing that the story they are reading is one of Mr. Papoleto’s lessons disguised as an inner city parable of political discourse. Finding amusement in the massive turns that can occur within story telling (the performance poet’s ace), Papolítico booms with a voice of regality in a way urban Latinx folks of New York christened and nurtured since the 70’s. Whether in New York, San Diego, or tropical Puerto Rico, we see a speaker that is fully realized in the sense of social responsibility; teaching an audience to read the volumes of truth that speaks through the cracks of city concrete. In a poem like, “For the Angel Diazes,” Papoleto puts a cop killing into a worldview perspective, using Angel Diaz as a blanketed name for any Latino (or any male of color for that matter), and allowing his poetic license to act as a tool that negotiates the complexities of cause and effect within communities.
For what was he, but a lost Soul on Earth
Who wrote of himself in his prison cell,
“I have no worth. My life is shit.
I want to diediedie…”
(one death, being enough
For
the living)
…
Yea! We weep openly for the death of the cop
But not the death of the crook,
Whose life was wasted as just the same;
Society accepting none of the blame
for the pain of his life,
Nor excuses him itself for not saving his soul —
As if he were bad from the womb,
As if he remains bad in this tomb!…
…
Mothers kill their children,
Fathers let their newborn sons die of hunger, while
Social Service agencies turn the other cheek;
as if to see if the social view is better elsewhere
where there might be a different need.
And all the while, its greed that feeds
at this banquet of human famine.”
What is to be exemplified here is what happens when a poet puts their ear to the ground and heightens their senses. Taking a risk by critiquing the stance of a criminal and in turn creating an anti- hero of sorts, Papoleto is taking full responsibility as culture’s scribe, continuing to highlight how these systematic forms of oppression feed into gang culture and violence, not from an accusatory stance (which there is a fair share of “calling out” throughout the book) but by appealing to humanity.
Jesus Papoleto Melendez’ Papolítico is a testament to the Nuyorican Movement and what POC literature stands for in terms of awareness, equality, and historical events with perspectives and processes that continue to repeat and perpetuate. In what can be called old school poet political satire, his storytelling that can only be crafted by the savviest of abuelos, leading the listeners down an unknown conclusion until they understand they had the answer the whole time. If you are in need of sage; for someone to deliver clarity, unity, electricity, or just the classic timbre and purpose of The Nuyorican Poets Cafe, pick up Papolítico from 2Leaf Press.
