Dimitri Reyes' first collection,
Papi Pichón,
is an Ars Poetica response to the Caribbean paradox where using words as categorically simple as "Puerto Rican" in an attempt to identify the complex amalgamations of African, Indigenous, Spanish, and beyond can only be described fully through myth. Where the cultural concepts that transcend history and lineage themselves become mythology. The Papi Pichón (Father Pigeon) figure works as an omnipresent voice throughout the collection, taking space during events such as the formation of hurricanes, the 1974 Puerto Rican riots in Newark, NJ, and when climate change has rid the world of us. Through verse lush with the sounds of drums, chants, and pop culture references, Reyes' work also connects these worldly ideas with the more personal spaces that see the poems
dealing with the fear of not belonging as well as the reconciling of the death of loved ones, and connecting to ourselves on a spiritual level. Like the dove from where the title gets its name,
Papi Pichón
flies across oceans and recycles itself through tradition, blood, nature, and time- always manifesting itself in new creationism. Whether pigeon, child, abolitionist, artist, ghost, or thought, in one word,
is spirit. The guide that brings us all closer together.