Walking Poetry in Loisaida

Abstract

This chapter examines the relationship between the writing, performance, and sexuality of Nuyorican Poets Cafe co-founder Miguel Piñero alongside the contemporary changes to the demography and culture of the Lower East Side/Loisaida beginning with the 1970s. Specifically, chapter 1 argues that Piñero’s queer stride functions as a performance that marks and claims racial-sexual space as he takes ownership of his geographic surroundings by thinking, naming, and calling out as he walks. By attending to Piñero’s “Lower East Side Poem,” this chapter ensures that his queerness, like his street walking and random thinking, is now included in the Cafe’s storied and canonical history.