Jose Hernandez Diaz
THE ANNIVERSARY
The anniversary of my death was last Tuesday. I died in a fiery plane crash. I was not a soldier in a heroic war, but an adventurist. I discovered many lands. Most of the lands were imaginary, like a dream. One country I founded was called The Land of Utter Emptiness. It was full of empty wine glasses and cigarette butts. On Sunday I went to the doctor to check on my health. He said I was, in fact, already dead. Furthermore, it was the anniversary of my death just last Tuesday.
JOSE HERNANDEZ DIAZ is a 2017 NEA Poetry Fellow. He is the author of the chapbook The Fire Eater (Texas Review Press, 2020) and the forthcoming full-length collection Bad Mexican, Bad American (Acre Books, 2024). He teaches generative workshops for various writing organizations including The Writer’s Center, Hugo House, Lighthouse Writers Workshops, and The Adirondack Center for Writing.
