my father’s cheek

never embarrassed to kiss my father’s cheek
in public      grateful for that simple gesture

in culture carried in affection
held on to un-assimilated

a cultural difference      tradition
like a circle      going unbroken

—

Daniel Suárez is a first generation Cuban American born and raised in Chicago, IL. He holds an MA in English and MFA in Creative Writing from San Francisco State University. His poems can be found in The Columbia Poetry Review, RHINO, Eleven Eleven, 5×5, Borderlands: Texas Poetry Review, Third Coast and other journals.