Every Child is Born a Poet: the Life & Times of Piri Thomas will be on Independent Lens on many PBS stations Tuesday night (check local listings).

The documentary brings to life the poetry of Piri Thomas in many ways while telling his story. It also shows him teaching workshops for the Beat Within, a writing program at Juvenile Hall in San Francisco.

Thomas spent time in jail in the 50s for an armed robbery and wrote Down These Mean Streets which is still used in many classes both inside prison and outside.

The website for the film has video of there of his poems. He is a major figure in Nuyorican literature.

It isn't in Amazon yet, but a CD called Every Child is Born a Poet: The Life & Work of Piri Thomas will come out from American Clavé/EastWorks Entertainment, and hopefully his out of print books will be reissued.

Thomas will be interviewed on Your Call Radio with Laura Flanders at 10 am pacific time on KALW 91.7 FM in San Francisco (it will be streamed live online and archived).