Every Child Is Born A Poet

Educational 16 page study guide and resource

An incendiary mix of documentary, poetry, storytelling, drama, and performance, EVERY CHILD IS BORN A POET explores the life and work of PIRI THOMAS (b. 1928) the Afro-Cuban-Puerto Rican author of the classic autobiographical novel Down These Mean Streets (1967). The film traces Thomas’ path from childhood to manhood in New York City’s Spanish Harlem, El Barrio, from the 1930's through the 1960’s - his parents’ immigrant experience, home life during the Great Depression, his membership in barrio youth gangs, his struggle to come to terms with his mixed-racial identity, his travels as a teen-age merchant marine, his heroin addiction, his notorious armed robbery of a Greenwich Village nightclub, his six years spent in prison, and then his emergence as a writer. Thomas’ coming-of-age story is counter-pointed with verité scenes of his on-going work of forty-five years as an educator and activist empowering marginalized and incarcerated youths. A stylized, genre-spanning production, EVERY CHILD IS BORN A POET includes rare archival footage & still photographs and provocative mixed-media artwork, as it examines Thomas’ use of creative expression as a means of confronting poverty, racism, violence and isolation. Pulsating with an original Afro-Cuban Latin Jazz score, EVERY CHILD IS BORN A POET is a riveting portrait of a life lived through struggle, self-discovery, and transformation.

"...The fresh, new American documentary Piri Thomas is a delicious, surprising and funny portrait of an author. It is not just a traditional culture documentary: it brilliantly combines different forms of expression from animation to black and white narration and dramatised scenes..." – Tuija Heikkilä, Aamulehti

"EVERY CHILD IS BORN A POET: THE LIFE & WORK OF PIRI THOMAS is a profile of an inspiring and powerful writer and role-model. The film is an eclectic visual pastiche, effectively combining several genres, such as drama, performance, archive and cinéma verité. Through this clever and sensitive film, we’re introduced to Piri Thomas’ charismatic personality." – Judges, International Documentary FilmFest Amsterdam 2003

"The deeply felt resonance of Every Child Is Born a Poet derives from Piri Thomas' unique ability to connect with his own interior life of feelings, and then to verbalize them through his art to the rest of the world." – Jon Gartenberg