A Poetry Collection

Broken

Hallelujah

Alex Guillien

He can't seem to escape his pain,
the devil taking his faith away—
and all you hear is a broken hallelujah.

Greater Is He

When you truly get a glimpse of what the cross means When you start to understand what being covered by His blood means The peace and flowing grace and mercy and light He shines into you during those moments cannot be undone or compared to I believe it can be maintained I believe it can become your posture I believe more of you can be opened by Him I have faith like a child The wonder and curiosity of faith That with Christ — anything is possible Stop hiding He was with you before your mother's womb He saw you in your sin, in your wickedness, in your filth And he never left He's waiting for you Like a good shepherd Like a good father ready to rejoice when you return Get on your knees and cry out to him He's waiting! Greater is He Greater is He Greater is He He that is in the world is but an ant in the presence of the almighty God Praise be to God Praise Jesus

Descend
struggle and darkness journeys and lessons breath, presence, and healing blood and belonging love and longing faith and testimony struggle and darkness journeys and lessons breath, presence, and healing blood and belonging love and longing faith and testimony

Six Chapters of One Life

From the weight of darkness to the grace of hallelujah — each poem a drop, each chapter a season, the whole a life made visible.

I
Chapter One

Into the Depths

Struggle and Darkness

I · ii

Weight in My Bones

I've got this weight in my bones
Numbness crashing in like tides
As soon as it leaves I don't say goodbye
For it comes back with all its might...

Read poem →
I · iii

Intersection

Caught in a hustle
Of trying to change someone's mind
Stuck in the quicksand of their story
Chaos is all you'll find...

Read poem →
I · iv

River of Styx

Floating down the corridor
of sticks and bones,
dark waters consume me,
yet this place feels like home...

Read poem →
II
Chapter Two

The Searching

Journeys and Lessons

II · ii

The Maze

Curse the slow death!
Carrying us sullen down the road,
Did you join the crowd and leave the maze?
Unwilling to sacrifice yourself...

Read poem →
II · iii

The Seat of Motivation

Present in the moment
Each second passing by
An opportunity to connect
Instead of asking why...

Read poem →
III
Chapter Three

Tools of Grace

Breath, Presence, and Healing

III · ii

Meeting It Where It Resides

Meeting it where it resides—
darkness lingers
in the places we hide.
Manifests as pain...

Read poem →
III · iii

Are You Ready?

Are you ready?
You've escaped the matrix.
It held you for so long.
But are you ready?...

Read poem →
III · iv

The First Honest Voice

The first honest voice in your life
Lost somewhere in fight or flight
Who is wrong? Who is right?
Who can you blame for your plight?...

Read poem →
III · v

Litany of Peace

Peace with closure
Closure with my dad
Closure with my brother
Closure with what wasn't
Peace with what is...

Read poem →

More poems from this chapter are held within the full collection — available with your pre-order.

IV
Chapter Four

Blood and Belonging

Fathers, Children, and Generational Healing

IV · ii

Mother, My Angel

Mother of life, delivering me into existence—
providing undying love,
support, and kisses.
Warm embraces lasting minutes...

Read poem →
IV · iii

Your Sacrifice

Your sacrifice—
your sacrifices gave birth to a family,
gave birth to dreams,
gave birth to things
you may never see...

Read poem →
V
Chapter Five

The Heart Opened

Love and Longing

V · ii

Seeds of Grace

I wish I could stay sorry
for leading you astray—
all my misdeeds
and the things I didn't say...

Read poem →
V · iii

I Know Not

I know not
where this path goes.
I know not
where my soul yearns to grow...

Read poem →
VI
Chapter Six

Anchor and Crown

Faith and Testimony

VI · ii

When I Am the Weary

When I am the weary
You are the helping hand
When I am the crying babe
You are the nursing mother...

Read poem →
VI · iii

I Will Not Bury My Talents

Lord, you see me in all of my past and all any doubt that creeps in. You see it all. You see all the lust. You see all the wickedness. You see all the greed...

Read poem →
VI · iv

Trinity

Our body. Mother Earth. God.

Deliver me unto You.
Through my breath
I sink into—
sink deeper and deeper into who I am...

Read poem →
VI · v

Chalice

You didn't come to save me for me to bury my talents
I didn't hide underneath those stairs for so long not to drink from Your chalice
I'm here to glorify You and all that You've given...

Read poem →
VI · vi

What a Powerful Name

What a powerful name it is.
When I speak the name of Jesus—
when I speak the name of Jesus and His blood covers me,
when I speak the name of Jesus and He washes me clean...

Read poem →
VI · vii

Covered

The blood of Jesus covers me — what you see in the world is not what it seems.
The blind leading the blind — can't you see?...

Read poem →
VI · viii

Broken Hallelujah

The monster comes in a dream.
He can't but run and freeze;
he can't even sing his hallelujah.

An angel comes to the scene...

Read poem →
Epilogue

When the Body Says No, It Plants Seeds

The fool looking only in the light
For something left in the dark
Asking for help from his friends
Never asking where it was lost...

Read poem →

Additional poems from this chapter — Heart on My Sleeve, Alex Is a Fighter — are held within the full collection.

The Stories Behind the Words

Fifteen years ago this began in a Word document at my godmother's house.
This is what grew.

The Genesis of Broken Hallelujah

A self-interview with Alex Guillien — coming soon

Video stories included with The Collection and The Edition pre-orders

AG Alex Guillien

Alex Guillien

These poems were not written — they were survived. Born from thirty years of searching, seasons of darkness, the breaking open of generational silence, and a faith that arrived not despite the brokenness but through it.

"I was five years old the first time I ran. My father was angry — not at me specifically — but his anger filled the house the way smoke fills a room. You don't need to be the source of the fire to feel like you can't breathe."

From It All Comes Out — the companion story included in the full collection. Broken Hallelujah is Alex's debut poetry collection — a complete arc from the weight of depression and searching, through healing tools and family reconciliation, into love and finally faith. The number six carries deep significance in his family, and so the collection moves in six chapters, each one a season of one man's becoming.

Get in touch — [email protected]

Broken Hallelujah

Six chapters. One lifetime. A complete poetry collection moving from the depths of struggle to the grace of testimony — bound in a single volume for the first time.

  • All poems across six chapters, including unpublished works
  • It All Comes Out — the companion story: a complete prose account of the journey behind the poems
  • Greater Is He — spoken word worship, bridging testimony into the collection
  • Dedication, Prologue, Opening Symphony & Closing Reflection
  • The Interlude: The Bull and The Matador
  • Available in digital and signed physical editions
Pre-Order Now
Broken
Hallelujah
Alex Guillien

Support the Collection

"You are helping someone hold a piece of me —
and maybe find a piece of themselves."

These poems were not written at a desk. They were written in the dark, in the searching, in the aftermath of things that tried to break me — and in the grace that came after. They exist because I survived long enough to put them down.

Now I want to put them in your hands.

Not just as words on a screen — but as a physical object built to last. Just as these poems document being beaten by life and slowly, stubbornly rebuilt — the book itself will be made the same way. Leather cover. Quality paper that holds ink the way good paper should. Sewn binding that doesn't crack when you open it a hundred times. Something you pass down. Something that outlives the both of us.

That physical book doesn't exist yet. It will — because of you.

Every digital pre-order keeps the words alive and moving. Every collection purchase funds the production of something permanent. And when you eventually hold that leather copy, know that someone contributed to it who may never hold one themselves — and that contribution meant it exists at all.

Whether you ever read a single page or simply want to say "I believed in this" — you are welcome here. Every level of support is received with the same gratitude.

Broken
Hallelujah
Alex Guillien

Built to Outlast the Hands That Hold It

The physical edition of Broken Hallelujah is still being made — deliberately, carefully, the way the poems themselves were made. Here is what it will be:

  • Cover Full genuine leather, deep brown or black — aged, not pristine. Something that gets better with use.
  • Binding Sewn, not glued. Opens flat. Will not crack on the hundredth read.
  • Paper Cream-toned, acid-free. Heavy enough that the ink sits on the surface rather than bleeding through. Built for margins. Built for notes.
  • Embossing Title and author pressed into the cover — no dust jacket, no decoration. Just the words and the leather.
  • Interior Generous white space. Each poem breathes on its own page. Nothing crowded.
  • Ribbon A single silk bookmark — the color still being chosen. It will matter.

Pricing for the physical edition will be confirmed once production costs are finalized. Pre-ordering digitally now reserves your place and directly contributes to making it real.

No level is more valued than another. All are welcome.

🖋
The Drop
$15 digital edition
Your purchase keeps the words moving — and directly contributes to the cost of bringing the physical edition into existence.
  • Complete digital edition of Broken Hallelujah — all six chapters
  • Early access before public release
  • Personal thank-you from Alex
  • Your name in the digital acknowledgments
Support — $15
The Foundation
$75+ you choose
A founding contribution. You are directly responsible for this book existing in leather and paper. When someone holds it decades from now, part of that is yours.
  • Everything in The Collection
  • Reserved signed physical copy — delivered when printed
  • Handwritten note from Alex inside your copy
  • Your name permanently in the physical book's acknowledgments
  • First access to all future work and events
Support — $75+

If these poems have moved you and you want to give beyond a tier — give what feels right. There is no wrong amount. Every contribution goes directly toward production, distribution, and putting this book in the hands of people who need it most.

— Alex Guillien

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