Daniel Suá​rez

report card pick-up, 1987

he passed down his work ethic
so I can be better than
not break my back like
 him
sorry... but
​
my back is broken
​
                                                                 ~o~

no llames enfremo
no llegues tarde
tragarse su orgullo
no te queje
no somos débil

mi trabajor es cuidarte

---

come porque no se sabe si la revolución viene maña

but sustenance wasn’t about communism
                              if what was afforded today was here / there
​
                tomorrow         the meaning of a grain of rice
left on a plate

                             was to eat was not to waste was
that he knew a mouth without

---

--
Daniel Suárez is a first-generation Cuban American born and raised in Chicago, IL. He holds an MA in English, and an MFA in Creative Writing from San Francisco State University. His poems can be found in the Columbia Poetry Review, RHINO, Borderlands: Texas Poetry Review, Third Coast, [PANK] LATINX/Latinidad Folio, Poetry Corner in the Chicago Reader, and other print/online journals.