Virgil Suarez – Michigan Quarterly Review

“La Isla de Los Monstros,” by Virgil Suárez

Leave a Comment / Rachel Farrell

In Los Angeles I grew up watching The Three Stooges,
The Little Rascals, Speed Racer, and the Godzilla movies,

those my mother called “Los Monstros,” and though I didn’t
yet speak English, I understood why such a creature would,

upon being woken up from its centuries-long slumber, rise
and destroy Tokyo’s buildings, cars, people–

“La Isla de Los Monstros,” by Virgil Suárez Read More »

By Virgil Suárez

In Los Angeles I grew up watching The Three Stooges,
The Little Rascals, Speed Racer, and the Godzilla movies,

those my mother called “Los Monstros,” and though I didn’t
yet speak English, I understood why such a creature would,

upon being woken up from its centuries-long slumber, rise
and destroy Tokyo’s buildings, cars, people–

“Alba for Donatila,” by Virgil Suárez

In her clapboard house with hard-packed dirt floors.
In this place of ghostly waking, my grandmother
rises from dark slumber, already dressed, her hair
combed over each ear, held by minnow silver