the multicultural issue || of comets, of dream catchers, of shape-shifting shadows

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University of Northern Iowa Of Comets, of Dream Catchers, of Shape-Shifting Shadows Author(s): Virgil Suárez Source: The North American Review, Vol. 286, No. 6, The Multicultural Issue (Nov. - Dec., 2001), p. 9 Published by: University of Northern Iowa Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25126659 . Accessed: 10/06/2014 03:45 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. . University of Northern Iowa is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The North American Review. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 62.122.77.52 on Tue, 10 Jun 2014 03:45:21 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

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Page 1: The Multicultural Issue || Of Comets, of Dream Catchers, of Shape-Shifting Shadows

University of Northern Iowa

Of Comets, of Dream Catchers, of Shape-Shifting ShadowsAuthor(s): Virgil SuárezSource: The North American Review, Vol. 286, No. 6, The Multicultural Issue (Nov. - Dec.,2001), p. 9Published by: University of Northern IowaStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25126659 .

Accessed: 10/06/2014 03:45

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

.

University of Northern Iowa is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The NorthAmerican Review.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 62.122.77.52 on Tue, 10 Jun 2014 03:45:21 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Page 2: The Multicultural Issue || Of Comets, of Dream Catchers, of Shape-Shifting Shadows

NAR

VIRGIL SU?REZ

Of Comets, Of Dream Catchers, Of Shape-Shifting Shadows

Las cometas y el destino, my father called a certain bright

light in the Havana night sky, when I was a child and he

carried me home from a neighbor's house where I had fallen

asleep watching television, or listening to the Sherlock Holmes

radio hour, or when he took me downtown to visit the Chinese stores with their porcelain, lacquer-colored Buddhas, their big

round bellies, their silk-stitched clothes, pearls, onyx-eyed

tigers and leopards, a tank of golden veil-tailed goldfish, my father's liking of their kites, which hung from rafters,

"Cometas," "Generales," &nd "Emperadores," as they called

these kites everyone knew the Chinese crafted from bamboo, rainbow-colored onion-skin paper and strings, cut-out designs

of dragons, birds, lions?my mother said my father was a kid at thirty-three?he loved all these things, their shine, glitter,

the way that, if you turned just right, those sitting statuettes

caught the light, a glinting that followed you as you walked down

the street. While he walked with me in his arms, my father

pointed to the night sky, the shiny stars, called them names

I could never remember. Once, he brought home a kite with a skein of waxed string, and we went to the street to fly

it. I watched my father run down the street as the wind

caught the paper and set the kite flying. It flew straight up,

lifting with it its long tri-colored string-paper tails. It soared.

And as I ran after my father, he laughed, let go more string.

Soon the kite was so high it no longer looked so big, so pretty, and my father let me hold it steady. I could feel its power

tugging at my hands, fingers, the way something you love pulls so.

November-December 2001 NORTH AMERICAN REVIEW 9

This content downloaded from 62.122.77.52 on Tue, 10 Jun 2014 03:45:21 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions