The aim and goal of this book is to carry on the legacy of the greats that have come before me like Langston Hughes, Emile Dickinson, Pablo Neruda and others.  This book aims at allowing the soul to speak unobstructed and unrestricted in any way shape or form.  Many times, in this fast pace society, we don’t stop and listen to the existential questions and concerns that our soul wants us to tend to.  These poems came to fruition out of an inner necessity not just to console my soul but more importantly to console the souls of others that can make a connection with these poems, which I prefer to call letters.  They’re letters in that, in them, I carry on conversations with myself but not just for myself.  Sometimes a letter is a personal conversation and sometimes the letter is a type of pedagogical monologue, one that seeks to get the reader to look at a topic from a different perspective or with a more critical sensibility.  This book is truly a testament to the art of writing, which uses the following fundamental question as a beginning to these letters and that question is- What does it mean to be alive?  When it comes to dealing with issues involving life, society, love, history, philosophy or religion, which the reader will encounter in this book many times we find ourselves existentially fighting to make sense of all the dynamics these issues entail.  It is through the art of writing that these topics can be best deciphered and brought to the forefront with the hopes that answers can come and so we can better steer ourselves towards happier existential routes.  As long as one person was reached with a particular letter in this book, my soul feels humbled and relieved. 

Rudy Calderón was born in the metropolis of Los Angeles, CA in December of 1974.  He is the sixth of eight children and a first generation Mexican-American.  His family moved to Santa Maria, CA as migrant workers to pick strawberries, lettuce, and squash, where they finally settled and have since remained.  Rudy attended most of the elementary schools in Santa Maria and later attended El Camino Jr. High School.  He went on to graduate from Santa Maria High School in 1992 and then attended Allan Hancock College.  He, then, transferred to Cal State University, Bakersfield, where he was deeply empowered by the history, philosophy and political science departments.  He graduated in 2001 (Cum Laude) with a major in history and minor in political science.  After graduation, he returned to Santa Maria, where he enrolled and received his California teaching credential and masters degree in the field of education from Chapman University.  In addition to this book, Rudy is also the author of I Wonder If You Will Ponder? A collection of poems.  Email: rcal67@hotmail.com

I remember feeling…

If I could uplift an emotion what would it be?
Looking back at my past to this answer
I’m starting to understand what it should be
Listen and hopefully you’ll use this advice
To this world better understand
And so you can in the future morally rise
And be better able to distinguish
Between truths and lies
Plant good seeds in your
Journey to be a good woman
Or man but above all
Give love

I remember feeling compassion…
When I saw people confronted with much apathy
Experiencing very little sympathy
From those that one encounters in
Dire situations
They came to me and spoke unleashing
Fierce frustrations
The anger that came from their eyes
I could see that their soul
Was full of deep cries
They needed love

I remember feeling compassion…
With a friend that always wanted to
Stay at my house
And didn’t even care about
My mess or all our stress
I mean he was even willing to sleep alongside
 The household mouse
In our beat up living room couch
He looked on with sad eyes as
My mom called me “mijo”
Now I realize his pain as I remember
That his mom had abandoned him
To go live with some man in Indio
He needed love

I remember feeling compassion…
When seeing a lovely four year old
Girl standing out in the cold late at night,
While her dad drank with his friends
In meaningless talk
This young girl just wanted to be with her dad alone
And maybe go for a neighborhood walk
With a rejection and crying eyes she went to sleep
To be consoled by the loneliness
That this wound would leave
For the rest of the week
Which this lack of love is cutting
Everyday oh so deep!
She needed love

My brothers and sisters
Let us uplift our compassion
To release ourselves from
These undesirable mental spasms
My brethren, let’s uplift our compassion
My brethren, uplift your compassion
My God, uplift my
Compassion

Religious respect

Why do people want to the Christian faith
In other parts of the world eliminate?
It only shows a heart negatively full of hate
But it goes the other way as well
I can appreciate all those other faiths, which
Helps those believers
Get as far away from the gates of their hell,
Which if they don’t have a sacred belief,
Their hearts and sinful being will sink
 Deeper than the deepest well

Whether it’s my Muslim sisters or brothers
I respect your mosques and all the places where your faith does cover
And if your faith helps keep a sacred union between two lovers
Then I think there’s really nothing more to
Say to you, or your brothers
It’s suffice to say that this topic with you
Has been well covered

To those that follow the Buddhists teachings
My soul and love towards you it is also reaching
Not to convince you to my belief
But to meditate on a common goal,
Which is to always abide by the “Golden Rule”
Because it is the universal religious tool
That’ll give us human relief
So just know that I’m not out to take your faith
Like a thief

To my brothers and sisters that follow the
Catholic faith everywhere, especially in Latin America
To a nice brunch or lunch or to share some laughs
I would definitely like to take ya’
You might worship the Pope or to a Father
 Confess your various sins,
Which is something I wouldn’t do
Or order upon my future kin
But that conversation is nothing
To negatively pursue
We need to talk in a way that will
Bring about a positive
 Mood

To the followers of Sikhism
Founded in the western part
Of the Indian population
Your faith it does give you a necessary elation
Your gurus they help you make
 Sense of the human condition
Following the Adi Grant that
Rightfully is your holy
Mission

Please, I will ask you to, as I have
Briefly done, respect my belief
That rests in my heart
And don’t try to eradicate it
With a knife or with malicious verbal darts
Let’s bring unity until
 This world we must
 Soon exit and
Depart