Cuban-American poet looks back at life

Piri Thomas spoke to a small group of students last night about becoming a writer while in prison. Noted poet Piri Thomas spoke to a small group of students last night at the Veranda for a lecture and book signing as part of Unity Week. The event was sponsored by Asociaci-n Cultural de Estudiantes Latino Americanos, the Greenfield Intercultural Center and the United Minorities Council. Thomas gained fame with the publication of his first work, the autobiography Down These Mean Streets, in 1967. He conducted the discussion as a "flow," sharing his thoughts informally, in poetic rhythm, on subjects such as social justice, racism, finding one's identity and his experiences as a Latin American in the U.S. "The idea is to share what I learned during the way so you don't have to wait 71 years to learn it," Thomas said by way of introduction. Thomas spoke of his turbulent youth in Spanish Harlem. "I remember getting up on drugs as a kid, street fights, a bullet in me, putting a bullet through a cop, serving five to 10, 10 to 15, but I said 'I'm going to face myself.'" But Thomas explained that prison allowed him to start over. "Prison was another foundation for me, a new beginning." In prison, Thomas swore he'd write something. And although he "didn't know an adjective from a hole in the ground," he was influenced by an English teacher who once told him "your punctuation is lousy, your grammar is non-existent, but if you want to be writer you'll be one some day." The author used the lecture to share his philosophy and the diverse sources from which it had developed, from his time in prison to Popeye's familiar "I am what I am and that's all that I am." Thomas emphasized the humanizing influence of poetry, the value of family and the importance of dignity. And he recalled his father's advice that helped him escape the violence of his youth: "Dignity is something no one can take away from you -- only you can give it away or sell it." Thomas read his short story "La Peseta/The Quarter." With great emotion and animation, the author told the semi-autobiographical Depression-era tale of a child who had taken a quarter from his father, finishing by emphasizing one of the central points of his discussion. "I was not born a criminal in my mother's womb," he said. Thomas came back repeatedly to his central themes of communication and tolerance in the course of the discussion. "I do a lot of repeating? because we must repeat, lest we forget." Following the lecture, College junior Huria Naviwali, a member of the UMC board, remarked, "I feel like I've learned a life's worth of lessons in an hour. He was excellent."