Jose Hernandez Diaz

THE THIEF 

A man in a “The World Is Burning” shirt appeared in front of an LA County judge. It was the first day of Spring. The man in a “The World is Burning” shirt was being accused of stealing a neo-expressionist painting by Chicano artist GRONK from a local museum. I don’t believe in stealing, the man said. Sometimes we do things we don’t believe in, said the judge. I can assure you I was at home watching the Lakers game, he said. The Lakers didn’t play that day, the judge said. I was at church singing “Old Time Religion” in the gospel choir. You are sentenced to 15 years’ solitary confinement in your studio apartment. I enjoy solitude, the man said. I will read and paint. Very well, then, said the judge. Off you go. Thank you, judge, said the man in a “The World Is Burning” shirt as he walked out of the courtroom calmly, indifferent. 

JOSE HERNANDEZ DIAZ is a NEA Poetry fellow from Los Angeles County, CA. He is the author of The Fire Eater; Bad Mexican, Bad American; The Parachutist; Portrait of the Artist as a Brown Man; and the forthcoming The Lighthouse Tattoo. He has taught English and Creative Writing at the University of California at Riverside as a Visiting Assistant Professor, and the University of Tennessee, where he was the Visiting Writer in Residence.