Jose Hernandez Diaz is a 2017 NEA Poetry Fellow. He is the author of The Fire Eater (Texas Review Press, 2020) and Bad Mexican, Bad American (Acre Books, 2024). His work appears in The American Poetry Review, Bennington Review, Conduit, Crazyhorse, Georgia Review, Huizache, Iowa Review, The Journal, Los Angeles Review, The Missouri Review, The Moth (Ireland), Northwest Review, Poetry, Southeast Review, Red Ogre Review (UK), The Southern Review, Witness Magazine, The Yale Review, and in The Best American Nonrequired Reading Anthology 2011. He teaches creative writing online and edits for Frontier Poetry.

I was riding the Ferris wheel at the local carnival. It was the end of summer and the new semester was on the horizon. I had learned a lot since I first started teaching medieval sword fighting to college students in the suburbs of Los Angeles. It was an inspiring experience. A rebirth one could say. After about the fourth spin around on the Ferris wheel, I began to doze off.It felt like a deep sleep, but it was just a few minutes.

Anyway, when I woke up, a large forest-green dragon approached the small carnival. It was a medieval dragon from another century. I quickly exited the Ferris wheel. I pulled out my sword and mounted my nearby horse. I charged the dragon. I had no other option. Besides, I was a skilled swordsman. All my students knew it. The dragon was a worthy opponent, though. I dodged its flames from its nostrils like a swan darting around a summer lake. Finally, I dug my sword into the dragon’s obtrusive skull, and I stood on its beating chest. The dragon puffed a final breath. Eventually, the midnight moon rose above the suburbs of Southeast Los Angeles.