The Man in a “Don’t Deport Me I’m A Christian” Shirt
A man in a “Don’t Deport Me I’m A Christian” shirt was swiftly deported to another continent he’d never been to. When the man in a “Don’t Deport Me I’m A Christian” shirt asked why he was being deported to a foreign land, a man in a mask answered, crudely, because you are too Brown, speak too much Spanish, you coughed out loud, the sky is blue, it doesn’t matter why you’re getting deported, wetback, get in the car, shut your Brown eyes, say a Brown prayer to your Brown God, said the unidentified man in a mask with federalist police gear, baton and gun.
The Man in a “Don’t Deport Me I’m A Capitalist” Shirt
A man in a “Don’t Deport Me I’m A Capitalist” shirt was swiftly shoved into the back of a nondescript federalist van as he walked downtown in a Home Depot parking lot, on Main Street, alongside other Brown folks who spoke too much Spanish in public. Why am I being kidnapped? asked the man in a Home Depot parking lot; the man was wearing a “Don’t Deport Me I’m A Capitalist” shirt. Because you’re too Brown, Brown, Brown, Spanish, Spanish, Spanish, low wage job, low wage job, low wage job, immigrant, wetback, lowlife. Go back to your country! This is America! The land of the Free! The land of Justice! The land of Opportunity! The land of due process! Shouted the man in a crooked federalist mask. The man. In a mask. The Federalist. The, man. The. Mask. Masque. Masquerade. Masks. Maskkk. Askkk. Kkk. K? K? you hear me, motherfucker! I’m certainly shouting!
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), The Parachutist (Sundress Publications, 2025), Portrait of the Artist as a Brown Man (Red Hen Press, 2025), and the forthcoming, The Lighthouse Tattoo (Acre Books, 2026). He has been a Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of California at Riverside, and Visiting Writer in Residence at the University of Tennessee.
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