Woke up this morning
feeling excellent!
Picked up the telephone
dialed the number
Of my equal opportunity
employer to inform him
I will not be in
to work today!
Are you feeling sick?
the Boss asked me,
" No Sir I replied,
I am feeling too good
to report to work today!
If I feel sick tomorrow
I will come in early."

Poet and playwright Pedro Pietri was born in Ponce, Puerto Rico, in 1944. Three years later, his family moved to Harlem. He attended public schools in New York City and was drafted to serve in Vietnam from 1966-68. He has published a half dozen books, including Puerto Rican Obituary. He is also a co-founder of the Nuyorican Poets' Cafe, a seedbed of people's spoken word culture in NYC. Pedro Pietri is now fighting cancer.