A dead man sent two dozen burgundy roses to his wife on their wedding anniversary. He had been dead for more than three years. He missed her immensely from the grave. He didn’t have an actual heart anymore, no, but that’s when he realized love comes from the bones.
When the dead man’s wife received the burgundy roses, she read the note carefully: “They say true love never dies. Here are two dozen burgundy roses from the grave to prove it. Love, Antonio.”
The woman smelled the fresh roses and opened the living room curtains. The spring sunlight was intoxicating. She could feel her dead husband’s pulse inside of her lungs.
Hear Jose Hernandez Diaz read his piece
Jose Hernandez Diaz is a 2017 NEA Poetry Fellow. He is the author of the chapbook of prose poems The Fire Eater (Texas Review Press, 2020), Bad Mexican, Bad American (Acre Books, 2024), and The Parachutist (Sundress Publications, 2025). His work appears in The American Poetry Review, Poetry, The Southern Review, Yale Review, and in The Best American Nonrequired Reading. He teaches generative workshops for Hugo House, Lighthouse Writers Workshops, and elsewhere. He serves as a Poetry Mentor in The Adroit Journal Summer Mentorship Program.