Papi Pichón As Rhetorical Device
by Dimitri Reyes
Papi Pichón flies out of my library
book and no one hears him because
he chirps at spanish-to-english
dictionary speed. Don’t dismiss Papi’s
beautiful wings a sabre a grindstone
attached to gold plated breasts,
a picture of many beers emptied across
a flag on the wingspan of a flying rat.
Sin vergüenza, he fluffs his feathers and
juts his pecker at an unknown roost slurring,
mira! mira! I got your stereotypical Boricua
right here! pointing to its pigeon butt.
If he had a crack it’d be the faultline where
carpetbaggers meet the campo. The winning
lotto ticket my grandfather never scratched
flutters out of the same book and Papi Pichón
gobbles it up. It’s been a long time since we’ve
seen real gold and not the deceiving foil
of a Publisher’s Clearing House sold dream.
It’s been longer since our Puerto Rico was
Borikén. Since coplas, décimas, y bombas
fetishized Borinquén reinas and creole babies.
Show me royalty, Father Pigeon
before you go up in flames.
Before you are burnt ash buried underneath more
history where the musicians and poets sit on your
pile of dust because you can still sing louder.
Fly me to the antiquity that collected the dusts
of gold for your angels in Ponce harvesting coca
to make our heartbeats beat faster than our feet
stepping to the conga in Newark. Papi Pichón
wants me to follow him past Oscar López Rivera
during the Puerto Rican Day Parade. Before
Commonwealth and the Bronx burnings when we
squawked like coquís. Before colorless. Before oro.
Before our sea of tierra learned to speak Spanish.
What is your poetic aesthetic? What are you interested in as a poet?
I'm a poet that didn't know they were a poet until they became a poet-- if that makes ANY sense.
Though I was good at it, I avoided writing for years in the pursuit of "a money making career." I was the first person in my family to go to college and I didn't want to squander the opportunity on ramen noodles, instant coffee, and stacks and stacks of drafts. Then I found out that there was a way to make a living while writing by diversifying my skill sets. I worked in education for 6 years and participated in grassroots social justice movements through the arts before transitioning into arts administration and publishing. I always found moments to create and be inspired.
This is all to say that I'm interested in writing, performing, and teaching in ways that model passion, epiphany, observation, and joy. I'm heavily influenced by the music and tonality of Nuyorican and Black Arts plays, prose, and poetry, as well as what is contemporarily being produced in the aftershocks of the BreakBeat school like the concrete poems & presentations of Douglas Kearney and LaTasha N. Nevada Diggs, and the performative energy of writers like Patricia Smith, Denise Frohman, Elisabet Velasquez, and local NJ gems like Sean Battle, Porta Rock, Rob Hylton, Ras Heru, and Rashad Wright.
You have a full-length poetry collection coming out. Tell us a little about Papi Pichón.
As you can gather from my first answer, I'm really investing in the connections and togetherness that poetry can create. It can be the educator in me that wants to encourage everyone to step into my work. Papi Pichón is a bird-myth that's spirit, demigod, and thought all at the same time where the story finds our titular character bouncing from body to body throughout the course of history and speculative futures-- inhabiting (or reimagining) what it means to be "of the culture." Broken into 3 main sections, the audience gets the experience of a 20-something Puerto Rican who has never made the journey to the island, a paternal figure who is the 20-something's connection to tradition, and a séance that evokes other mythological beings-- both human and immaterial-- that call out to an already written and inevitable future.
On the surface, it's for mi gente (my people) that are Puerto Rican, but as an extension, it's for my people that experience the dilemma of dual identities-- being from two (or more) places at once. I want these groups to be seen and find home in my words but I also want to leave the door open for others outside these spaces to walk in, sit at the table, break bread with Papi Pichón, and learn something. Though it isn't a highly sophisticated notes or glossary section, I did include both after the conclusion of the book to encourage further research and discussion. Basically, whether you are well read or picking up a poetry book for the first time, I want to be sure you put the book down and walk away being more culturally literate, whether you grew up with some of these same experiences, or you're willing to expand your mind and take a walk in another's shoes.
How do you move from an all-possible blank page to the act of writing poetry?
I used to set writing times for myself where I'd collect all of the notes, overheard conversations, and scribbles I'd recorded in my phone and spend that writing session tooling with poetry ideas or expanding fragments of poems until I realized, "ok, I'm sitting on A LOT of work, here!" I learned early on that it's important to me to go with the ebbs and flows of creation. If I'm in a generative mood, I write, if I need some help, I revise or read. Maybe I'm in a stage where I don't feel like writing, then maybe it's time to enjoy life until I'm bound to become inspired again.
These days, I'm in my "untitled projects" era so I'm crafting less from scratch. I still write when I get hit with inspiration but I've mostly transitioned over to thinking about my writing in terms of grouping them thematically. That's how I put together Papi Pichón and now that this book is out in the world, I've turned my attention to two other "in the works" manuscripts. They're both sharing a few similarities and now the fun is seeing how the poems speak together in different iterations and discovering how they converse as collections with each other. I'm also intrigued about how they're also in dialogue with Papi Pichón and my chapbook, Every First & Fifteenth.
You have an active social media presence where you not only promote poetry but offer tips and tricks to make it more accessible to others. Why do you feel called to do this work?
Thanks for this question. Many authors I speak to are still trying to "crack the code" to social media and I'm a big advocate for doing what feels good in order to create. Creating social media content is akin to penning a poem or writing a story. Why do you do it and what story do you want to tell? There will be an audience that'll be there to receive what you have to say and once you know who you want to impact. Once you find your "why," you can begin creating content that is authentic to who you are.
These days, I miss teaching in classroom settings and am so grateful when I have the opportunity to speak to a group of high school or college students. I'm a teacher first and a writer second, and that's why I think so much of what I do on social media and in my writing leans into the exchange of knowledge. I'm able to offer advice from my own experience which is ever-changing, therefore, the content will always be ever-changing as I continue to publish and participate in the community. When I first started writing, I didn't know what I was doing and when I searched for help online to better prepare myself, it yielded very little results. I created a space where I share insider experiences in a manner that's accessible to those not able to afford an MFA. In terms of equitability, I want others to know everything that I know. And I'm happy to see that since I started creating content in 2016, I've found other YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok creators doing the same.
What are some easy ways poets can market themselves? Why is this important?
This answer will depend on one's style and (literally!) where they're writing. When marketing oneself, the main focus should be building some sort of a readership. If you are in an area where there is an arts scene or adjacent literary community, get involved! Volunteer at festivals. Go to an open mic and make friends if you're an extrovert; if you are an introvert, still think about attending the open mic anyway and let your words speak for themselves. In my experience, places with thriving artistic spaces have supportive communities and if you don't feel supported, feel free to find another group. Attend readings at bookstores, libraries, and other similar brick and mortars as they usually have more programming to participate in. With enough engagement, that's how you become a "local" and those local poets always have the hometown advantage :-)
If you are in what I call a "poetry desert" or a place where there isn't much in the way of a poetry community, that's when I'd suggest taking to the internet. There are forums for poetry, Facebook groups. and hashtags to follow in order to find others with similar interests. There are also many organizations that still have virtual workshops and readings to participate in. I love the Murphy Writing community out of Stockton University as well as Arts By The People up in Madison, NJ. These organizations have been good to me and they have great in-person and online programming.
As someone who dabbles in both the traditional in-person and virtual sides of "marketing" I’d suggest doing both, but of course, it's up to the writer. The most important thing is to market oneself in a way that's comfortable.
Where can readers connect with you? Buy Papi Pichón?
Readers can find me offering poetry tip videos, poetry vlogs, book unboxings/reviews and other cool literary videos on YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok. I always love growing the community and meeting people. Follow me and let me know that you found me through the Mad Poets Society!
I also teach monthly virtual workshops and we have a very small but close-knit group of amazing writers, some local, and others as far as the UK. You can find out more on the SHOP section of my website.
Papi Pichón is available from the NJ-based publisher, Get Fresh Books. I'm so happy to be publishing with them as I've been a fan of their work since their inception and I hope you get to check out the great work my pressmates are doing as well.
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/dimitrireyespoet
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dimitri__reyes/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@dimitrireyesthepoet
Papi Pichón: https://gfbpublishing.org/shop/ols/products/xn--pre-order-papi-pichn-by-dimitri-reyes-zxd
Dimitri Reyes is a Boricua multidisciplinary artist, content creator, and educator from Newark, New Jersey. Dimitri's most recent book, Papi Pichón (Get Fresh Books, 2023) was a finalist for the Omnidawn chapbook contest and the Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize. His other books include Every First and Fifteenth, the winner of the Digging Press 2020 Chapbook Award, and the poetry journal Shadow Work for Poets, now available on Amazon. Dimitri's work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net and you can find more of his writing in Poem-a-Day, Vinyl, Kweli, & Acentos. In 2023, he was a part of the inaugural poetry cohort for the Poets & Writers Get The Word Out publicity incubator. Dimitri is also the Marketing & Communications Director at CavanKerry Press.
John Wojtowicz grew up working on his family’s azalea and rhododendron nursery in the backwoods of what Ginsberg dubbed “nowhere Zen New Jersey.” Currently, he works as a licensed clinical social worker and adjunct professor. He has been featured on Rowan University’s Writer’s Roundtable on 89.7 WGLS-FM and several of his poems were chosen to be exhibited in Princeton University's 2021 Unique Minds: Creative Voices art show at the Lewis Center for the Arts. He has been nominated 3x for a Pushcart Prize and serves as the Local Lyrics contributor for The Mad Poets Society Blog. His debut chapbook Roadside Oddities: A Poetic Guide to American Oddities was released in early 2022 and can be purchased at www.johnwojtowicz.com. John lives with his wife and two children in Upper Deerfield, NJ.