Todos Somos Sagrados
All Are Sacred
Rey M. Rodríguez
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From a harsh and unforgiving corner of Los Angeles where brave mothers took “guns and Uzis tucked beneath beds away from their sons” (p.15) wrapped them in blankets and delivered them to priests, Rey M. Rodríguez brings us his timely debut poetry collection Todos Somos Sagrados/All Are Sacred, a heartfelt testament of resilience, unconditional love and the immigrant women whose faith worked miracles for their community. Like a balm for our times, the poetry reminds us that even in a harsh world, “blessings abound” (p.160).
Our world has reached a catastrophic record high of forcibly displaced people by war, persecution and violence: 117 to 123 million globally. Nothing seems sacred anymore when human beings are obligated to leave their homes, and worse. The need to offer others shelter couldn’t be more pronounced. Todos Somos Sagrados/All Are Sacred emphasizes this “need to create sanctuary / In our hearts and in our deeds / For ourselves /And others / When will we see it?” (p. 9) Rodríguez writes about how the women of the Proyecto Pastoral at Dolores Mission in Boyle Heights not only saw the need but did something about it! He honors them and their big hearts with his poems, which award-winning author Reyna Grande describes as “a love letter to all of us women, sisters, mothers.” The collection inspired me to contemplate what constitutes sacred ground. Do we each hold the innate potential to create sacred spaces, open and welcoming to all? Or when we see someone in need, are we “... too busy. / Too tired. Too distracted. / Too helpless. Too removed /To help.”? (p. 3) The book opens with a letter from Raquel Román, the Executive Director Proyecto Pastoral at Dolores Mission in Boyle Heights, who shares that walking into sacred ground feels “almost as if you have found a part of you that was missing.” (p. iii) This is how entering Rodríguez’s poems felt to me. |
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In the first poem, Rodríguez paints a poignant mural of a “Brown woman fleeing with her babies / to find a home. / She is wrapped in a zarape / carrying the future in her hands, /nowhere to go, seeking sanctuary.” (p. 3) His collection tells the story of generous, maternal hearts who responded by offering shelter to the young woman, as if she were their own child, mother, sister, aunt. In candid poems, he shines a light on the ways “faith formed the soil” (p.23) despite being faced with opposition and injustice at every turn: “La Virgen nos abraza a todos. / Con toda nuestra complejidad. / Con todo nuestro sufrimiento.” (p.58)
Soon to be published with El Martillo Press, this bilingual collection reclaims silenced voices as it humanizes those the government is intent on erasing: “I am not vermin . . . I am not poison . . . I do not eat dogs. . . I come to do the work that no one in this country wants to do. . . I am not a criminal / I am a human demanding to be seen as one.” (p.45)
In the poem that shares the book’s title, the author, in conversation with Father Brendan, writes “If we are all sacred / Men, women, children play in green places / where concrete once ruled. . . all living things / are honored and preserved.” (p.142) Having served as a Dolores Mission Proyecto Pastoral board member for over thirty years, Rodríguez gives very personal accounts of how strong women “jackhammered the cement until roses emerged” (p.21), making his collection extraordinarily miraculous and life-affirming.
For two years, Rodríguez drew from interviews with the project’s founders and Father Gregory Boyle, fulfilling his intention to “translate their work into poetry” in time to commemorate the community’s 40th anniversary on May 21, 2026. All proceeds from his book go directly to Proyecto Pastoral at Dolores Mission, in honor of their remarkable work and in gratitude for the women of faith who courageously led the community and grew a garden of love where all could find shelter.
The twenty-first Poet Laureate of the United States, Chicano poet Juan Felipe Herrera, once said that our communities, and the people that make them, are the “poetry makers,” those who form our poetics. Rodríguez’ collection certainly makes for a poetics of love and compassion: a universal language that desperately needs resurrecting.
There is an unmistakable sacredness in the acts of empathy and compassion modeled by the women in his book — ones we can all aspire to: “There’s a garden growing in Boyle Heights. . . A garden of second chances. . . of no borders. . . the garden is strong built on the shoulders of immigrant women” . . . and, most importantly, “all who enter bloom”. (p.17 & 19) At a time when our government continues to unjustly target immigrants, destroy the land and defile the sacred in all kinds of ways, Rodríguez' poetry appears as a beautiful reminder that together we can jackhammer through cement, reclaim sacred ground and flourish against all odds for “the quest for peace is ongoing / like the need for that next breath.” (P.81)
Rey M. Rodríguez is a writer, advocate, and attorney from Pasadena, California. He received his MFA in fiction from the Institute of American Indian Arts in May 2026. His poetry is published in Huizache. He is working on a novel set in Mexico City and is a graduate of Cornell, Princeton, and U.C. Berkeley Law School.
Soon to be published with El Martillo Press, this bilingual collection reclaims silenced voices as it humanizes those the government is intent on erasing: “I am not vermin . . . I am not poison . . . I do not eat dogs. . . I come to do the work that no one in this country wants to do. . . I am not a criminal / I am a human demanding to be seen as one.” (p.45)
In the poem that shares the book’s title, the author, in conversation with Father Brendan, writes “If we are all sacred / Men, women, children play in green places / where concrete once ruled. . . all living things / are honored and preserved.” (p.142) Having served as a Dolores Mission Proyecto Pastoral board member for over thirty years, Rodríguez gives very personal accounts of how strong women “jackhammered the cement until roses emerged” (p.21), making his collection extraordinarily miraculous and life-affirming.
For two years, Rodríguez drew from interviews with the project’s founders and Father Gregory Boyle, fulfilling his intention to “translate their work into poetry” in time to commemorate the community’s 40th anniversary on May 21, 2026. All proceeds from his book go directly to Proyecto Pastoral at Dolores Mission, in honor of their remarkable work and in gratitude for the women of faith who courageously led the community and grew a garden of love where all could find shelter.
The twenty-first Poet Laureate of the United States, Chicano poet Juan Felipe Herrera, once said that our communities, and the people that make them, are the “poetry makers,” those who form our poetics. Rodríguez’ collection certainly makes for a poetics of love and compassion: a universal language that desperately needs resurrecting.
There is an unmistakable sacredness in the acts of empathy and compassion modeled by the women in his book — ones we can all aspire to: “There’s a garden growing in Boyle Heights. . . A garden of second chances. . . of no borders. . . the garden is strong built on the shoulders of immigrant women” . . . and, most importantly, “all who enter bloom”. (p.17 & 19) At a time when our government continues to unjustly target immigrants, destroy the land and defile the sacred in all kinds of ways, Rodríguez' poetry appears as a beautiful reminder that together we can jackhammer through cement, reclaim sacred ground and flourish against all odds for “the quest for peace is ongoing / like the need for that next breath.” (P.81)
Rey M. Rodríguez is a writer, advocate, and attorney from Pasadena, California. He received his MFA in fiction from the Institute of American Indian Arts in May 2026. His poetry is published in Huizache. He is working on a novel set in Mexico City and is a graduate of Cornell, Princeton, and U.C. Berkeley Law School.
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