Jose Hernandez Diaz

Ode to the Immigrant Workers

You come from far away, your home,
To a place where some don’t want you.

You come to do the jobs we don’t necessarily
Want to do. Construction in the heat.

Fast food. Farmworkers. So many other jobs
We don’t always associate with immigrant labor.

You are grateful for the opportunities.
How do you feel? How can we better support you?

We need fair legislation and adequate humanity.
Thank you for being the backbone of this country

For generations. May we never forget where we
Came from. Where we’re going. How we’ll get there.

Bio

Jose Hernandez Diaz is a 2017 NEA Poetry Fellow. He is the author of The Fire Eater (Texas Review Press, 2020), Bad Mexican, Bad American (Acre Books, 2024) and The Parachutist (Sundress Publications, 2025). He has been published in The Yale Review, Poetry, Poetry Wales, The Southern Review, The London Magazine, Iowa Review, Acentos Review, Huizache, The Missouri Review, Cincinnati Review, TriQuarterly, Epoch Magazine, and in The Best American Nonrequired Reading. He teaches generative workshops for Hugo House, Lighthouse Writers Workshops, The Writer's Center, and elsewhere. Additionally, he serves as a Poetry Mentor in The Adroit Journal Summer Mentorship Program.