JESUS PAPOLETO MELENDEZ

* Poet *
* Playwright *
* Performance Artist *

A proud Puerto Rican, originally from El Barrio (East Harlem), New York City, Jesús Papoleto Meléndez is one of the original founders of the "Nuyorican Poets' Movement"… With the publication of his poem, "Message To Urban Sightseers" in Talkin' About Us (NY, 1969), and the publication of his first volumes of poetry, Casting Long Shadows (NY, 1970), and Street Poetry & Other Poems (Barlenmir House, NY 1972), Meléndez's poetry was at the inception of the movement.

His play, The Junkies Stole The Clock, was the first production of the NY Shakespeare Festival's Public Theatre's Nuyorican Playwright's Unit in April of 1974. It was again produced in 1997, directed by Veronica Caicedo (Caicedo Productions), at the Clemente Soto Vega Cultural Center, NYC.

Jesús Papoleto Meléndez is a recipient of "The Louis Reyes Rivera Lifetime Achievement Award," Amherst College, MA, December, 2004, and a 2001-NYFA (New York Foundation for the Arts) Fellowship in Poetry; an Artist for Community Enrichment (ACE) Award from the Bronx Council on the Arts (NY, 1995) and a Combo (Combined Arts of San Diego)-NEA Fellowship in Literature, recognized "For his innovative multi-disciplinary works in poetry, playwriting, and performance art which speak with eloquence and compassion for society's victims of indifference, racism and intolerance," (Oct, 1988).

A life-long member of The Latin Insomniacs Motorcycle Club Without Motorcycles Inc., he has served, along with the great poet El Reverendo Pedro Pietri, as Ambassador representing El Spirit Republic de Puerto Rico; El Puerto Rican Embassy, New York City.

As a performance-poet Papoleto has distinguished himself as a dynamic presenter of his works in the oral tradition. His poetry seems to "jump from the page" in its written form, stylized in a technique of word-visualization which the poet refers to as "Cascadance," and, in its oral presentation becomes a melodic processional sounding of syllables, which personify the words' images and feelings.

As a poetry-facilitator, working in the public schools, Meléndez's career spans over 30-years, during which time he has coordinated many successful "Poetry/Creative Writing" workshops, impacting the lives of thousands of young people. He has developed an unique program which offers cross-curriculum creative writing experiences, emphasizing poetic form and _expression, while merging computer desktop publishing techniques and technology in the classroom.

Volumes of Poetry Publications

    * Concertos On Market Street (September, 1993)

    Kemetic Images Press, 5830 Roswell St., San Diego, CA 92114, with

    I Publish Myself Publications, P.O. Box 127461, San Diego, CA 92112

    * Street Poetry & Other Poems  (November, 1972)

    Barlenmir House Publishers, New York, New York

    * Have You Seen Liberation (August, 1971)

    * Casting Long Shadows (May, 1970)

Selected List of Literary Publications

In The Arms of Words: Poems for Tsunami Relief (Foothills Publishing; Anthology; 2005); BumRush The Page (A Def Poetry Jam; Anthology; 2001); Phati'tude (Literary Magazine, Vol. 1/No. 2; Summer 2001); Long Shot (Literary Journal, Vol. 20; 1998); Phati'tude (Literary Magazine, Vol. 1/No. 1; Spring 1997); Long Shot (Literary Journal, Vol. 19; 1997);  A Gathering of the Tribes (Literary Journal, #17; 1997);  Tercer Milenio (Literary Journal, year III, No. 1; 1997); Literature and Integrated Studies Forms of Literature (ScottForesman; Textbook; 1997); In Defense Of Mumia (Anthology of prose, poetry and art; 1996); Not Black and White Inside Words from the Bronx WritersCorps (Anthology, April, 96); Long Shot (Literary Journal, Vol. 18; 1996); Paper Dance (Anthology; 1995); Unsettling America: Race and Ethnicity In Contemporary American Poetry (Anthology; 1994);  Portfolio, The Creative Forum (Magazine, March, 90); Centro, Journal for Puerto Rican Studies (Academic Journal; Spring 1988);  La Linea Quebrada * The Broken Line (Anthology; 1987);  Maiz (Anthology; Fall 1981); Herejes Y Mitificadores (Anthology; January 1980); Puertoricaner In New York (Anthology; Fall 1979); Revista Chicano-Riquena (Literary Journal; Summer 1979); Literature U.S.A. (ScottForesman; Textbook; 1979);  Nuyorican Poetry (Anthology; 1975).

Jesus Papoleto Melendez at Boricuas

Internet Links to Jesús Papoleto Meléndez

http://www.prx.org/pieces/2984

Interview with Frank Perez for StoryCorps on the passing of Nuyorican Poet El Reverendo Pedro Pietri

http://www.virtualboricua.org/Docs/poem_jpm01.htm

Poem, "Hey Yo/Yo Soy" by Jesús Papoleto Meléndez on Virtual Boricua Web page

http://www.ucsd.tv/library-test.asp?showID=2645

Live Performance at the University of California, San Diego, 1992