4This book of poetry "the emptiness" I wrote when I was going through some very difficult times in life. After my marriage of 9yrs ended, I realized that I was wrestling with a familiar demon. It was formed some 20yrs earlier right after my relationship had ended with my first love. The demon was in a form of emptiness within me.

A definition of emptiness - the state of containing nothing, "The vast emptiness of space" synonyms: void, vacuum, gap, vacancy, hollowness, hole, lack.

I had been following a Japanese anime series called "Bleach "created by Tite Kubo. In this anime series, the main character Ichigo Kurosaki would transform into a "Hollow." To mark the beginning of Ichigo's transformation - his eyes would turn yellow, signifying his Hollowfication has begun and then Ichigo became a creature he could not control. Although the state of Hollowfication in the anime series served an entirely different purpose, I chose to use the concept for my book cover, because I felt that when I was going through my hard times that I became a hollow in a sense. You could see the emptiness in my eyes and then I became someone that I could not control.

This poetry is very personal, but I want to share it with you. The purpose of publishing this book is to help other people suffering from the same types of hardships as I did. I'm praying that many will be able to connect and relate to my poetry, read and see that I went through exactly what they are and that I made it through all my hardships And so, will they.

I know that if I did not have faith in God, loving family and concerned friends that I would not be here today. If you find that you are going through hardships, then surround yourself with positive influence, pray and give yourself time to heal before you move forward.

I hope to inspire others to write. To pursue their dreams and to not give up in life...I pursued my dream and you are holding it in your hand, maybe I should have entitled this book "My dream" Lol. I hope you enjoy this book. This is my first book, written from my heart. I chose to not have it edited. I wanted it published exactly as I wrote it. So, please excuse my grammatical errors.

Thank you, Albert A. Villalobos...