Portrait of the Artist as a Brown Man - by Jose Hernandez Diaz (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

"What joys, what celebrations, and what tributes await the reader of Jose Hernandez Diaz's Portrait of the Artist as a Brown Man."--Iliana Rocha, author of The Many Deaths of Inocencio Rodriguez

This collection consists of odes to the Mexican American, first-gen experience as well as surreal prose poems with cultural references and settings native to the Los Angeles area.

The collection opens with odes to everyday images and symbols of the Latinx community. In an age of elevated racism, these odes seek to celebrate Latinx culture in the face of constant scapegoating, ridicule, and surveillance. Also, this collection explores surreal prose poetry both in the suburbs and barrios of Los Angeles and the larger American landscape. "A future prizewinner," according to former US Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera, this collection seeks to celebrate the Mexican American experience while also exploring how surrealism and absurdism can lead to wondrous discoveries about the self, community, and the imagination.

Review Quotes

"Jose Hernandez Diaz's poems cut through the modern acrobatics of the dazzling poetry parade in service of a straightforward and boldly honest approach. With cool constraint, he 'abandons the hierarchies' of language and chisels out the diamonds of our menial lives, 'not for the ego's sake, but for love.' And because of this, we trust his witness, his testimony of the people and places that populate this worthy collection."
-Tim Z. Hernandez, author of Some of the Light

"What joys, what celebrations, and what tributes await the reader of Jose Hernandez Diaz's Portrait of the Artist as a Brown Man. Through a voice of such intense clarity, Diaz utilizes both the ode and the prose poem as methods of defiance--pushing back against oppressive forces while creating poetic space for homage, as well as new, more nuanced histories; James Joyce, Lorca, Neruda, Holden Caulfield, Joséeacute; Emilio Pacheco, and Mrs. Weir, a high school English teacher, are just some of the literary cast of characters that are recontextualized in worlds that are surreal, at times absurd, and existential. The various speakers in the collection are in search for their sense of belonging while external forces constantly remind them of their otherness. Poetry. Poetry is where the speaker lands, finds his place, and invites us in. Ultimately, a directive in the midst of social and political unrest: 'we must remember not to be loaded weapons aimed at each other."
--Iliana Rocha, author of The Many Deaths of Inocencio Rodriguez

About the Author

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, the London Magazine, and in the Southern Review. 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. He is from Norwalk, California.