Pedro Pietri, 59; Poet and Playwright Wrote About ‘Nuyoricans’

Pedro Pietri, 59, a co-founder of the Nuyorican Poets Cafe who wrote poems and plays that illustrated the lives of Puerto Rican New Yorkers, died Wednesday of renal failure en route from Mexico to New York. He had been at a holistic clinic in Mexico since January, and was returning to New York for specialized treatment of stomach cancer.

Pietri was best known for “Puerto Rican Obituary,” a poem published in 1973 that chronicled the lives of five people who left the Caribbean island for mainland America with plans that never bore fruit. The piece was embraced by young Puerto Ricans in New York -- known as Nuyoricans.

Born in Ponce, Puerto Rico, and reared in Harlem, Pietri began composing his works in high school. He served in Vietnam and said his experience there drove him further to the left.

Pietri earned attention for spoken word pieces and songs such as “El Puerto Rican Embassy” and “The Spanglish National Anthem.”