Just once before I die
I want to climb up on a
tenement sky
to dream my lungs out till
I cry
then scatter my ashes thru
the Lower East Side.
So let me sing my song tonight
let me feel out of sight
and let all eyes be dry
when they scatter my ashes thru
the Lower East Side.
From Houston to 14th Street
from Second Avenue to the mighty D
here the hustlers & suckers meet
the faggots & freaks will all get
high
on the ashes that have been scattered
thru the Lower East Side.
There's no other place for me to be
there's no other place that I can see
there's no other town around that
brings you up or keeps you down
no food little heat sweeps by
fancy cars & pimps' bars & juke saloons
& greasy spoons make my spirits fly
with my ashes scattered thru the
Lower East Side . . .
A thief, a junkie I've been
committed every known sin
Jews and Gentiles . . . Bums and Men
of style . . . run away child
police shooting wild . . .
mother's futile wails . . . pushers
making sales . . . dope wheelers
& cocaine dealers . . . smoking pot
streets are hot & feed off those who bleed to death . . .
all that's true
all that's true
all that is true
but this ain't no lie
when I ask that my ashes be scattered thru
the Lower East Side.
So here I am, look at me
I stand proud as you can see
pleased to be from the Lower East
a street fighting man
a problem of this land
I am the Philosopher of the Criminal Mind
a dweller of prison time
a cancer of Rockefeller's ghettocide
this concrete tomb is my home
to belong to survive you gotta be strong
you can't be shy less without request
someone will scatter your ashes thru
the Lower East Side.
I don't wanna be buried in Puerto Rico
I don't wanna rest in long island cemetery
I wanna be near the stabbing shooting
gambling fighting & unnatural dying
& new birth crying
so please when I die . . .
don't take me far away
keep me near by
take my ashes and scatter them thru out
the Lower East Side . . .
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Comments
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Farewell Pinero
From guest NIck (contact)
Just became aware of Miguel Pinero, July 2009...wow...force of nature, thief, kid, junkie, mad angel of the streets. Rest in peace brother. -
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Pinero
From guest MsMayor (contact)
Ordered this dvd from netflix not quite knowing who this poet was...damn can't believe I never heard- I feel lost and to far from the LES... -
Let me be in the lower East side
From guest Eduardo Muñoz (contact)
Let me be in the lower East side, so I can inhale those ashes!! -
Pinero's Lower East Side
I can relate to Pinero's Lower East Side because I lived in the lower east side for many years. 13th st. & Avenue B. When you live in the lower east side, it's like, you become part of the neighborhood. Everyone knows you and accepts you. The people, the cuchifritos, the evangelicos, the pentecostales, the bodega owners, the piragua sellers, the botanicas, the espiritistas, the dealers, the tecatos, the pillos, the canoneros, the joloperos, the maricones, the prostitutas, all of it. You become part of the smell, that musty smell of an abandoned buildings, part of the street, the concrete. The smell of wet concrete when it rains in the summer. The smell is on you & you like it.
Fortunately and unfortunately, The Lower East Side is no longer the lower east side or even alphabet city. It has become the east village and a victim of "Gentrification", that is, they have moved most of the "unwanted and unprofitable elements" out and brought in the upperclass and upwardly mobile people. to bring up the value of the property. The last time I walked through the area it wasn't recognizable & as far as the place where I lived, I recognized nobody. I cannot speak for the projects on avenue D, since I didn't go that far. I felt alienated and a stranger to the area that made me what I am. Next time I go I will try to look deeper. But as far as I could see walking up ave B I saw nothing of the old neighborhood. -
Whilst I cannot claim my home has the same qualities as the one that pinero describes, I can empathise with his wish to remain a part of the place after he has died. I love to leave my home town and walk the wild open spaces but it would be awfully lonely spending eternity there.
That final stanza is powerful stuff that with a slight change of locale we could all agree with. -
I haven't heard of the author before. This poem however and the emotions it evokes go very deep indeed. Though in the past I've concentrated more on writers British writers and culture, exceptional works like this one make me change my mind.
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Bien chevere, Miguel. Puerto Rico, ahora y siempre!
John -
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From guest Ljupcne (contact)
A deep poem coming from a wise man, a true artist with a revolutionary style of writing... I'm from Macedonia and I'm a writer all I got to say is that poets like Miguel are the true inspiration for us to keep writing.... -
I grew up on the Lower East Side
From guest Orlando (contact)
Wow...incredible memories...I grew up on the Lower East Side, Had glimpses of Miguel Pinoro in the 1970s when I was growing up. Amazing man. Am proud to be a P.R. man from the Lower East Side. -
poems from Manuel Pinero
From guest Doi Germanmn (contact)
I saw the movie, heard the poems, experienced his history of life and I am really impressed. I never heard about him before. Now I know him and his poems. He was great. What an extraordinary life....! -
Like all great art...
From guest Charles (contact)
Some part of you can identify with it, or you feel as though the artist is speaking directly to you. That they are articulating something you would say just that way perhaps, if you had their gift. I live on the LES and I wanted to memorize this poem. I think I will. Thanks Miguel. -
Great peom
From guest Silvia (contact)
A great movie about him, made me cry ...not a man, an idol , an icon -
Miguel Pinero
From guest Keith Barratt (contact)
I came here after the BBC finished showing the film Pinero. This was the poem of the closing scene and I had to read it in full and hear it again. I am a Welshman, a person who has lived all his life with the sound of Dylan Thomas in my mind. Now I can add Miguel Pinero:
"Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light."
Two great poems on death. I am going now to explore all of Pinero's work.
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Wonderful
From guest Jazmine Maddox (contact)
I love this. I like the fact that the poet is not ashamed of where they live or come from. Even after death they want to remain in the same place. Wonderful! -
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This poem is from a true poet. A poet who's bleeds poetry in every line he writes. His poem is one that those who are marginalized by poverty and corruption can relate to. It's a strong poem that is faithful to a violent reality.
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This lines are greater than those told by the actual so called "vanguard poets".
This lines were written by and honest man who knew write about self-reallity.
He was hard, i can tell.
Hes life was violet, His life was sad; but this lines tell us he live well.
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