Poetry: forms, themes, and literary analysis

¶ … poetic turn:' "Lower east side poem"

The 'poetic turn' is the moment in which a poem takes the reader by surprise and fundamentally shifts the reader's perspective of the poem. This is seen in Miguel Pinero's "Lower east side poem" which takes a conventional poetic subject -- death and life after death -- and celebrates the poet's desire to embrace seemingly negative and immoral aspects of New York City. Instead of repenting the error of his ways and seeking peace from a life of hustling and drug dealing, Pinero's poem turns all of these conventions on their heads and instead begs the reader to ensure that he can enjoy all of these things, even after death.

The poem begins with a vision of the author standing on a tenement building, dreaming of his death and seeing a vision of his ashes scattered across New York. The refrain of the poem "the Lower East Side" repeats with almost every stanza and is reinforced by the phrases' rhyme with many lines ending with words such as 'sky' and 'cry;' 'sight' and 'dry' and 'high.' Pinero's vision is both epic and romantic as he imagines himself crying out and staring into the distance, yet is also very earthy and squarely located in the seedy, specific images of New York as he envisions hustlers getting high on his ashes. Pinero marks himself a writer who knows New York very well as he invokes "From Houston to 14th Street/from Second Avenue to the mighty D." He clearly has great affection for "the hustlers & suckers" and "the faggots & freaks" all getting high on his ashes.

Ultimately, the poem is a kind of love letter to New York. Pinero states: "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." Pinero, despite all of the ugliness of New York, wants to be forever connected and bound to the city, even after death, despite (or because of) the city often means "no food little heat" and "fancy cars & pimps' bars & juke saloons & greasy spoons." Instead of going to heaven and being uplifted from all of these things like some writers might, Pinero wants his ashes to literally enter the bodies of the most destitute members of the city, to be forever connected to its essence. Rather than a vision of eternal peace, as might be expected of a poem about death, Pinero's poem suggests that the poet wants to be connected to the Lower East Side in any way possible.

This is because, Pinero admits, he was himself one of those 'freaks' and 'drug dealers' in life. He does not repent this in the poem, but rather celebrates it. "A thief, a junkie I've been / committed every known sin" he states "this concrete tomb is my home / to belong to survive you gotta be strong." Ironically, by making a hymn to what will happen after he dies, Pinero is able to celebrate what makes New York so alive and vibrant. Instead of being 'at rest,' "I wanna be near the stabbing shooting/gambling fighting & unnatural dying / & new birth crying." The speaker wants to continue to feel 'alive' even after death and the only way to feel this is not to seek peace, but to remain in New York.