Garabato Poems
by Virgil Suarez
0-930324-38-2 || See below
Paper, Perfect Bound , 96 pages
Critical Praise for Garabato Poems
"A salute to the deep, tender heart of Virgil Suárez! His instantly inviting poems travel a wide terrain immigration, life in the USA, the ongoing weave of disparate bits, roughnesses sweetened by family and indelible flavors. Suárez has a keen appetite, a wonderful sense of detail and description and a dynamic energy. . . . This is the voice of a true compadre on the trail."
— Naomi Shihab Nye
Garabato means scribble or doodle. In this first collection of poetry by novelist Virgil Suárez, these scribblings alternately yearn, cry, laugh, reminisce, and sparkle. The poems, which span the author's boyhood in Havana to later years in Tallahassee, Austin, and Miami, are deeply personal. We see a little boy without toys finding fun in eating dirt ("soft, grainy, pretend chocolate dirt"). Next a young man in exile, who is like the Banyan trees that "grow backwards into the gound and sprout more roots." Then the poet becomes a father fascinated by his daughters. ("They break silence, they break monotony, they break things.") Virgil Suárez captures not only the experience of all immigrants, but also the universal human celebration of life, family and nature. Spanish words, reiterated in English, are sprinkled in like flavorful seeds in bread. Soft imprints of Aztec pottery designs decorate the text. This little book, like the royal palm of Cuba and Florida, stands above the rest. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
— Mary Clare Wickinsin REFORMA Newsletter (Summer 2000)
"A sparkling collection of gutsy, wrenching poems. Already well-known as a novelist, with this splendid book Virgil Suárez establishes himself as one of the most powerful and compelling voices in contemporary Latino poetry."
— Gustavo Perez Firmat, author of Life on the Hyphen and Next Year in Cuba
Reviews
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"A salute to the deep, tender heart of Virgil Suárez! His instantly inviting poems travel a wide terrain immigration, life in the USA, the ongoing weave of disparate bits, roughnesses sweetened by family and indelible flavors. Suárez has a keen appetite, a wonderful sense of detail and description and a dynamic energy. . . . This is the voice of a true compadre on the trail." -- Naomi Shihab Nye
Garabato means scribble or doodle. In this first collection of poetry by novelist Virgil Suárez, these scribblings alternately yearn, cry, laugh, reminisce, and sparkle. The poems, which span the author's boyhood in Havana to later years in Tallahassee, Austin, and Miami, are deeply personal. We see a little boy without toys finding fun in eating dirt ("soft, grainy, pretend chocolate dirt"). Next a young man in exile, who is like the Banyan trees that "grow backwards into the gound and sprout more roots." Then the poet becomes a father fascinated by his daughters. ("They break silence, they break monotony, they break things.") Virgil Suárez captures not only the experience of all immigrants, but also the universal human celebration of life, family and nature. Spanish words, reiterated in English, are sprinkled in like flavorful seeds in bread. Soft imprints of Aztec pottery designs decorate the text. This little book, like the royal palm of Cuba and Florida, stands above the rest. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. -- Mary Clare Wickins, in REFORMA Newsletter (Summer 2000)
"A sparkling collection of gutsy, wrenching poems. Already well-known as a novelist, with this splendid book Virgil Suárez establishes himself as one of the most powerful and compelling voices in contemporary Latino poetry." --Gustavo Perez Firmat, author of Life on the Hyphen and Next Year in Cuba
About This Author
Read more about Virgil Suarez HERE.
