Outlaw: The Collected Works of Miguel Piñero

Part observer, part participant in the turbulent goings-on in his Nuyorican barrio, Miguel Piñero made waves in the artistic current with his dramatic interpretations of the world around him.

Portrayed by actor Benjamin Bratt in the 2001 feature film Piñero, the poet’s works are as rough and gritty as the New York City underworld he wrote about and loved. His depictions of pimp bars, drug addiction, petty crime, prison culture and outlaw life—all drawn from first-hand experience—astound the faint-hearted, as Piñero poetizes an outlaw vernacular meant to shock proper, bourgeois culture.

This long-awaited collection includes previously published and never-before-published poems and ten plays, including Short Eyes, which won the 1973-1974 New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best American Play.

A co-founder of the Nuyorican Poet’s Café, Piñero died at the age of 41, leaving behind a compelling legacy that reveals the harsh, impoverished lives of his urban Puerto Rican community.