Puerto Rican Obituary

Much of the effect of “Puerto Rican Obituary” comes through the use of repetition, which begins immediately in Line 1: “They worked.” This line appears six times in Stanza 1, as Pietri places emphasis on it by always placing those two words on a line by themselves. In fact, the last three times the phrase appears, it does so in consecutive lines (Lines 14-16), creating a rhythmic refrain that emphasizes both the importance of this fact and the tireless work ethic of the five Puerto Rican immigrants. A number of other lines that begin with the plural pronoun, they, reinforces the sense of tireless effort as well as the relentless of the actual work : “They were always on time / They were never late / They never spoke back” (Lines 2-4). Their efforts were such that “They worked / ten days a week / and were only paid for five” (Lines 11-13), which could mean that they worked two full-time jobs each, for poor pay; or, they might have worked unpaid overtime, or they might have worked harder than everyone else, offering employers the equivalent of two workers’ efforts. Regardless of its meaning, as the speaker states again in Line 16, “They worked.”

At the end of the first stanza, the speaker of the poem introduces the backdrop of poverty: “They died never knowing / what the front entrance / of the first national city bank looks like” (Lines 20-22). The mention of the bank references the immigrants’ second-class citizenship, as only white Americans are able to use the front entrance of the bank, and their unfamiliarity with banking in general. The suggestion of the rear entrance to the building may also refer to the immigrants’ use of the employee’s entrance, as they could have been among the staff who kept the bank in clean working order.

Stanza 2 introduces another repetition, that of the names of the five individuals the poem focuses on. Each name is given its own line, emphasizing Pietri’s desire that they be seen as individuals, distinct from the plural pronoun of the first stanza. Here, he lets readers know through the voice of the poem’s speaker that these five people are unique, with their own desires and life situations, not merely a group of Puerto Ricans to be understood as a collective. Regardless of their experiences, both in Puerto Rico and America, they come to the same end: “All died yesterday today / and will die again tomorrow” (Lines 27-28). These lines emphasize the never-ending cycles of immigration and poverty, as well as the equalizing effect of death. Even though they die as individuals, they all pass “their bill collectors / on to the next of kin” (Lines 30-31). The effects of their poverty are felt by future generations, not just themselves, implying that the value of the individual means less to the members of this group.

The first reference to “dreaming about america” occurs in Line 37. This mention should lead readers to consider the concept of the American dream, but where most people associate the American dream with the idea that hard work leads to success and wealth, Pietri’s characters dream that their “name is on the winning lottery ticket / for one hundred thousand dollars” (Lines 40-41). Pietri implies that their only chance at success in America will not come from hard work, which they readily complete, but from the good fortune of a lottery ticket. The inescapability of poverty leads the five Puerto Ricans to purchasing “make-believe steak / and bullet-proof rice and beans” (Lines 44-45). These five can no more afford to feed their family well than they can pay off their debts.

Stanza 2 also introduces the first use of Spanish—“Mira Mira” (Line 39), translated as, “Look Look.” Pietri includes Spanish at various points in the poem to provide a sense of the cultural milieu in which these characters live and the liminal space between two countries and two identities in which they exist. As immigrants, they are no longer fully Puerto Rican, nor are they assimilated into a white culture that looks down on them for their origins.

The third stanza offers the first instance of words that can be read in multiple ways. This opportunity for interpretation is a common effect of unpunctuated poetry, as it requires readers to make their own meaning through the insertion of punctuation wherever readers think it should be, often requiring revision once one has read more of the poem. For instance, Lines 49-52 read as follows:

Who never took a coffee break

from the ten commandments

to KILL KILL KILL

the landlords of their cracked skulls.

The words “coffee break” in Line 49 read differently after continuing to Line 50, which creates tension between the idea of a “coffee break” and a “break / from the ten commandments” (Lines 49-50). Similarly, a “break / from the ten commandments,” when combined with “to KILL KILL KILL” (Line 51), becomes much more specific and fraught due to the use of all capital letters. Finally, this “KILL KILL KILL,” which reads like an admonition when read with “the ten commandments,” becomes threatening when combined with “the landlords of their cracked skulls” (52). Here, as in other places, Pietri complicates the readers’ ability to understand the speaker and to predict the meaning of his lines ahead of time and creates potential for multiple inflections and rhythms, in keeping with this poem’s origins as a performance piece.

The following stanza repeats the naming of the five characters in the poem and explains that others “do not live at all / are dead and were never alive” (Lines 61-62). The speaker implies that the deaths of these five should not be taken literally. Their situations on these “nervous breakdown streets” (Line 59) are so impoverished that they cannot be said to be “alive” (Line 62) at all. The speaker suggests that they may be functionaries or cogs in the machine of American capitalism, doomed to complete the least desirable jobs, ones that no one “alive” would wish to do. Even “the mice” (Line 60) on these streets live better.

Another reason for their death lies in Stanza 5. Instead of living, they waited for better things to come:

Juan

died waiting for his number to hit

Miguel

died waiting for the welfare check

to come and go and come again

Milagros

died waiting for her ten children

to grow up and work

so she could quit working

Olga died waiting for a five dollar raise

Manuel

died waiting for his supervisor to drop dead

so he could get a promotion (Lines 63-76).

None of these events comes to fruition. Instead, the five toil at their menial labor, making minimum wage or slightly more, left with nothing but hope for improvements that may someday take place in the future. As the speaker continues the narration, these events appear never to occur.

The five ironically experience a much-desired change in their circumstances, if only geographically, in death: “Is a long ride / from Spanish Harlem / to long island cemetery” (Lines 77-79). Their parents, however, must make the effort to follow along their “non-profit ride” (Line 91). This stanza opens and closes with references to the two locations, emphasizing that the repetitive nature of such activities makes them seem ordinary and inevitable. As well, the selective capitalization of proper nouns is noticeable in these lines; the proper noun “Spanish Harlem” is capitalized, but “long island” is not, implying that even if the five do not received much respect from their neighbors and employers, the speaker at least sees them as worthier than their white American counterparts.

As such, the group “will die again tomorrow” (Line 100), as Pietri asserts, once again, near the beginning of Stanza 7, implying that even if it isn’t these five, someone else in similar circumstances will meet such an end. The speaker of the poem reinforces a shift away from individual names after the first five lines of the stanza. Instead of enumerating each one’s dreams, as the speaker does in Stanza 2, here he refers to the collective: “Dreaming / Dreaming about queens / Clean-cut lily-white neighborhood” (Lines 101-103). Now, they dream of owning homes, of being “The first spics on the block” (Line 106). The pejorative word choice prepares readers for what is to come: “Proud to belong to a community / of gringos who want them lynched” (Lines 107-108). While facing the white homeowners’ racism, they are also “Proud to be a long distance away / from the sacred phrase: Que Pasa” (Lines 109-110), implying their desire to assimilate into the dominant cultural. The poet’s decision to incorporate the use of the pejorative term in the poem suggests that another kind of more sinister assimilation has taken place as the five may have developed a sense of internalized racism.

However, the speaker of the poem is aware that their desires for assimilation are “empty dreams / from the make-believe bedrooms / their parents left them” (Lines 112-114) and “are the after-effects of television programs” (Line 115) that privilege white America. These programs only include diversity in the form of more menial labor: “black maids and latino janitors” (Lines 120-121) that ease white Americans’ consciences by allowing “everyone / and their bill collectors” (Lines 122-123) to “laugh at them / and the people they represent” (Lines 124-125). Here, Pietri criticizes not just white America, but also the entertainment industry that perpetuates racist stereotypes, invites diverse individuals to feel shame about their origins, and reinforces ill-treatment of people like the five characters in this poem.

To combat such ill treatment, Pietri returns to the individualized view of the five in Stanza 9, as the speaker demonstrates a recurring interest in their aspirations. While some, like Juan and Olga, dream of “a new car” (Line 127) or “real jewelry” (Line 133), “Miguel / died dreaming about new anti-poverty programs” (Lines 128-129) and “Milagros / died dreaming about a trip to Puerto Rico” (Lines 130-131). The futility of these dreams returns at the end of the stanza, where Manuel once again falls back on believing in the luck of “the irish sweepstakes” (Line 135).

These dreams, no matter how lofty or material, cannot protect the five from dying “like a hero sandwich dies / in the garment district / at twelve o’clock in the afternoon” (Line 137-139). The speaker ties their deaths to the mundanity of a lunch break, the one respite from work in the various manufacturing sectors of New York City. He inserts the first reference to organized religion in the following lines, referring to “social security numbers to ashes” (Line 140) and “union dues to dust” (Line 141), lines that mirror the words adapted from the Old Testament book of Genesis for the Book of Common Prayer: “ashes to ashes, dust to dust.” Pietri blends religion and patriotism by explaining that the five “were born to weep” (Line 143) “as long as they pledge allegiance / to the flag that wants them destroyed” (Lines 145-146). Whether or not they make the pledge, “They saw their names listed / in the telephone directory of destruction” (Lines 147-148), signifying that their very residence in New York City contributes to their death.

The stanza continues with another biblical reference, as this group must “train to turn / the other cheek” (Lines 149-150). This lesson came via “newspapers / that misspelled mispronounced / and misunderstood their names” (lines 150-152). These mistakes refer to all Puerto Ricans, not just the five enumerated in “Puerto Rican Obituary,” though Pietri nods to his title when he continues by explaining that these same newspapers, “celebrated when death came / and stole their final laundry ticket” (Line 153-154). The immigrants are noticed only in death; their lives, filled with toil and privation, are meaningless to the white America symbolized by these newspapers.

Stanza 11 introduces an even darker view of the group’s existence: “They were born dead / and they died dead” (Lines 155-156). This tone shift indicates the hopelessness of their situations. No matter what they did, they never had a chance at the advantages they had hoped for. The next generation, however, does not refrain from seeking the same monetary advantages. Family members visit “the number one healer / and fortune card dealer / in Spanish Harlem” (Lines 159-161), though not for solace, merely to find out “the correct numbers to play” (Line 169) in the lottery. For,

Now that your problems are over

and the world is off your shoulders

help those who you left behind

find financial peace of mind (Lines 173-176).

Though they believe that “death is not dumb and disable” (Line 178), nothing will come from a séance, any more than they are able to take solace in Christian worship of God, as evidenced in Stanza 12, where the five experienced

Hating fighting and stealing

broken windows from each other

Practicing a religion without a roof

The old testament

The new testament (Lines 196-200).

Such a practice pales in comparison to

[…] me gospel

of the internal revenue

the judge and jury and executioner

protector and eternal bill collector (Lines 201-204).

Here, the speaker alludes to the notion that all that is certain in life are death and taxes. The five experience none of the fruits of their religious practice but live according to the whim of the legal and financial systems.

Their only hope is to “learn how to say Como Esta Usted” (Line 206). This is the formal phrasing for “how are you?” in Spanish. “Usted” (Line 206) is a more elevated form of “you” than the informal “tú,” which implies a more familiar relationship. According to the speaker, the use of this level of respect and  formality with white Americans bodes well: “and you will make a fortune” (Line 207). In fact, the group

will not return from the dead

until they stop neglecting

the art of their dialogue—

for broken english lessons

to impress the mister goldsteins (Lines 210-214).

Sadly, even such “broken english lessons” (Line 213) will only get them the most menial of positions, as Pietri chooses to enumerate in Stanza 14. Ultimately, they may be lucky to be “assistant’s assistant / to the assistant’s assistant / assistant lavaplatos” (Lines 220-222), with “lavaplatos” (Line 222) translating as dishwasher. Not only do they work “for the lowest wages of the ages” (Line 224), but their employer “rages when you demand a raise / because is against the company policy / to promote SPICS SPICS SPICS” (Lines 224-226). Pietri capitalizes the racist term for Hispanic to show how prominent this label is for those of such an origin, contrasting again with the lack of capitalization of the proper noun “mister goldsteins” (Line 214). No matter how hard the Puerto Ricans try, they cannot get ahead when faced with such racist policies.

The futility of their lives causes them to turn against one another, as is evident in the rest of Stanza 14, which explains the reasons why the five “died hating” (Line 237) one another. Each has something the other covets, whether it be “a color television set” (Line 234) or the ability to speak “broken english / more fluently than he did” (Lines 249-250). All of these items are status symbols. Some, in the case of making “five dollars more on the same job” (Line 238), have direct monetary value while others like the reference to “broken english” (Line 249) make life in New York easier in general.

Regardless of their hatreds, they all end up in the same place: “the main lobby of the void” (Line 252). At last, they are “[a]ddicted to silence” (Line 253) while their bodies decompose. Instead of listing their names one at a time, on individual lines, Stanza 16 offers information about each death with a twist: Pietri inserts “Here lies” (Line 260) before each of their names, as a minister might in eulogizing the dead. Ultimately, though they were “Always broke / Always owing” (Lines 268-269), they died “Never knowing / that they are beautiful people” (Lines 269-270). Just as they could not see their individual worth, their rejection of their pasts and their feelings of inadequacy kept them from seeing that “PUERTO RICO IS A BEAUTIFUL PLACE / PUERTORRIQUENOS ARE A BEAUTIFUL RACE” (Lines 273-274). Pietri broadens his focus from his group of five to embrace all of Puerto Rico, its inhabitants, and its emigrants, drawing attention to the collective with his emphatic use of capitalized letters.

The rest of Stanza 17 shifts into the subjunctive, a grammatical tense used to express wishes or desires that are most often unlikely to occur. Pietri uses the speaker’s voice to warn his readers not to become addicted to the mind-numbing properties of American television and, most of all, to Christianity, which serves to keep Puerto Ricans from rising above the place white America has trapped them in:

If only they

had used the white supremacy bibles

for toilet paper purpose

and make their latino souls

the only religion of their race (Lines 278-282).

The “white supremacy bibles” (Line 279) kept them from seeing the truth behind “the funeral of their fellow employees / who came to this country to make a fortune / and were buried without underwears” (Lines 289-291). Pietri uses the lower case letter in the phrase “broken english” (Line 249) instead of the capitalizing the word “english” to emphasize the alienation his characters feel. Not only are they visually distinct from white America due to their complexions, but they are also looked down upon for not being able to speak using standard English grammar.

But all is not lost. In the final stanza, the five are “right now doing their own thing / where beautiful people sing / and dance and work together” (Lines 297-299). This is an afterlife where “you do not need a dictionary / to communicate with your people” (lines 302-303). Instead, as Pietri signifies by switching from English to anglicized Spanish, predominantly, “Aqui / Se Habla Espanol / all the time” (Lines 305-307). In Spanish, an accent appears over the letter “i“ in “aquí,” but the anglicized version of the word as Pietri uses it in the poem lacks the accent. Here, they speak imperfect Spanish “all the time” (line 307). Even more, “Aqui the men and women admire desire / and never get tired of each other” (Lines 351-352). Here, all Puerto Ricans put aside the petty squabbles of living in white America, using their own version of their shared language to communicate. In the end, “Aqui Que Pasa Power is what’s happening / Aqui to be called negrito / means to be called LOVE” (Lines 313-315). “Que Pasa Power” (Line 313), the power of “what’s going on,” of “what’s up,” reigns supreme. In this way, the epic poem “Puerto Rican Obituary” ends with a call to arms. Pietri wants his Puerto Rican readers to see that they “ARE A BEAUTIFUL RACE” (Line 274), that they can “LOVE” (Line 315) one another just as they are.