A Poem By Jose Hernandez Diaz

The Skeleton and the Guitar

A skeleton played an acoustic guitar by a lake. It sang folk songs and patriotic songs. People passed by and placed coins and bills inside the skeleton’s hat. Koi fish swam in the lake beside the skeleton. At sunset, the skeleton played one final song. It was written by the skeleton. It was called “The Skeleton and the Guitar.” The crowd cheered at the end of the song. As the cheers faded, the skeleton collected its belongings, and rode its horse home to the edge of the city.

Jose Hernandez Diaz is a 2017 NEA Poetry Fellow. His work appears in The Best American Nonrequired Reading, Green Mountains Review, Huizache, The Journal, Los Angeles Review, New American Writing, Pleiades, The Progressive, Rattle, Witness, and other journals. He has served as an editor for Floricanto Press and Lunch Ticket. He tweets at @JoseHernandezDz.

The Poetry Section is edited by Mark Bibbins.