ManuScrita: Poems on Life, Love, & the Nature of Reality is a collection twenty years in the making intended for readers to reflect on and dive into the depths of their own consciousness. Where did the idea for this collection of works come from?

Growing up a proud Jewish Latino in Puerto Rico, in a Cuban-exile community, deeply shaped my identity as a double minority, and gave me a strong sense of personhood and perspective to see the differences that divide people as well.

In college, I majored in philosophy and comparative religion as a way to uncover universal truths across all world religions and cultures. It was when I took an introductory poetry class that my 20-year writing journey first began. Many of the poems in the book were writing assignments from the class or poems I wrote while walking the city streets of Boston and Cambridge alone at night. I continued to write in my 20s and many of the poems are a direct result of conversations I had with friends and strangers over the years.

What were some ideas that were important for you to share in this book?

As a philosopher and student of all Eastern religions and Western religions’ mystic traditions, I have always been interested in the mystic belief that all of reality is one thing. There is the universe we can see in this moment in time and the unseen universe which is infinite. The connection of an individual life to a Deity or the absolute can be attained through contemplation and eventually in post-mortem.

These ideas are universal across all major religions and relevant to all people. In the modern world, it is much easier to forget the interconnectedness of everything, and people can feel isolated and alone. My hope with ManuScrita is to provide mini-meditations through the psalms I wrote to allow readers to reflect on their own lives, relationships, and choices. In our fast-paced world, it is vital to pause and contemplate the consequences of our actions, the power of forgiveness, and the resilience of the human spirit. I believe that exploring these themes encourages empathy and understanding in an increasingly disconnected world.

What were some goals you set for yourself as a writer in this book?

It’s been a lifelong goal of mine to publish so that my words could become part of the world’s permanent record. The work reflects years of new material and rewrites after every time I would re-read them.

When the pandemic lockdowns occurred in 2020, I made the decision to finally self-publish my book and began putting together the manuscript of all my poems, hence the name of the book. It’s been a long process of rewriting and editing the past three years.

What is one thing you hope readers take away from your collection of poetry?

One of my favorite quotes of all time is by Eleanor Roosevelt in 1901. She said, “Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people.” Many of us have outlets for discussing events and people. Most people don’t read poetry, philosophy, or spiritual works, so this book hopefully allows readers to take in some of life’s big universal ideas and themes in an intimate, simple format for self-reflection.

Each poem reflects a piece of my soul. My hope is that at least one of them resonates with each reader and that the recommended works at the end of the book help guide people on their own personal journeys.

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