What would one expect a religious convert and Sicilian emigrant to write about? Earthly pleasure? Yes, he admits, he too has felt the sensation of air on naked skin. Like all poets, Caldiero thinks about death: "I weep for Heaven. Come take me, angels of God, come take me up to heaven. I say up to heaven, not down. I even know the way. That's how sure I am of it."

With a striking resemblance to Allen Ginsburg, Caldiero is like the best poets of any place or time: passionate and honest about life.

Alex Caldiero was born in Sicily, raised in Brooklyn, attended Queens College, and now lives in Orem, Utah, with his wife, Setenay, and children. Well known for his performance works that integrate poetry with music, dance, and art—and for his appearance in the independent motion picture, Plan Ten from Outer Space—Caldiero has performed at the New School for Social Research, the Pritchard Art Gallery, the Salt Lake Art Center, and on Brazilian TV. Among his collections are Book o’ Lights, From Stone to Star, The Milk of the Mother, Toy Blood, and Various Atmospheres: Poems and Drawings. He has been published both in Italy and the United States, reviewed in Village Voice and the New York Times, is anthologized in Text-Sound Texts, featured in Utah: State of the Arts, and is included in the Dictionary of the Avant-Guards.