Jasiel, sigues intacta en la fibra de mi alma; como un verso que al leerse se renueva. Ahí estás, Jasiel, en lo eterno cada vez que escucho a Pedro Guerra; cada vez que observo en una mapa donde este Vermont o Japón o República Dominicana. Sintiéndote cerca te he extrañado tanto. Sería imposible olvidar a alguien a quien tanto debo. Comida, chistes, anécdotas y el abrazo cálido de una latina en los montes verdes e impetuosos. (2003)

This is the excerpt from one of the best letters I have ever received in my life. My friend José, a poet and amazing soul, sent me this letter from Puerto Rico after we spent a summer in Vermont studying Japanese in a immersion program. It was a hard summer for him and adapting to the very distant way of the US for a person coming from a Caribbean island for the first time--to VT of all places--was tough. I was happy to meet him there and to afterwards have him write me some of the great letters I keep as mementos for posterity. I read it maybe every two years. It is a source of inspiration and courage. It is funny how things like a letter can become such a powerful tool. I am sure he didn't think it would be that way when he was writing it. Life is funny that way.