Goblin with Hummingbird Mask

A green goblin walked in a lush forest. It picked berries from a ripe bush. The goblin sat by a murky pond and ate the fresh berries. The goblin’s rough skin was forest green, so it blended in with the scenery. The goblin had on an ancient, wooden hummingbird mask. The goblin began to dance a subtle dance as the rain fell with the sunset. The goblin soon hunted a rabbit for dinner as the moon rose above the clouds. At midnight, the green goblin prayed to the old dragon gods of yesterday. The green goblin eventually fell asleep to the pitter-patter of the rainfall as the brightness of the moon intensified into the night.

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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, Bad Mexican, Bad American (Acre Books, 2024). He has been published in The American Poetry Review, Cincinnati Review, Gigantic Sequins, Iowa Review, Poetry, The Southern Review, The Yale Review, and The Best American Non-required Reading. He lives, teaches, and edits in Southeast Los Angeles.