By Jose Hernandez Diaz

The Mexican word for owl is tecolote, from the Nahuatl: tecolotl.
I think it sounds beautiful in both languages: both of my origins.

My favorite bird is the tecolote. The way it sits in the tree:
Wise insomniac, alone. Only company is rain. At night, it comes alive:

A little moon. A myth. A continent of  leaves. At midnight: the tecolote
Transforms into a jaguar, into a python, into a dragon.

When I was younger, my mom used to tell me I was like
A tecolote because I would stay up late to watch Letterman or

Conan O’Brien. Then, as a teenager, I was a tecolote because I would
Go out late with friends and party. Now, at thirty-five, I’m getting

A tattoo of  a tecolote on my forearm. Reminder of my childhood,
My ancestry, the night. Gracias, tecolote: protector of the moon and sky.

• Relationships

Poet Bio

Jose Hernandez Diaz is the author of the chapbook of prose poems, The Fire Eater (Texas Review Press, 2020). He has been awarded a fellowship by the National Endowment for the Arts, and he lives in southern California. See More By This Poet

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