As a result of the publication of Gift of Inebriation, Claudio Rodríguez started a close friendship with Vicente Aleixandre, to whom Claudio called “his father”. Such friendship lasted until the death of the Nobel-awarded poet. Rodríguez’s friendship with the teacher and protector of so many young poets from the second half of the 20th century, was spread to the large group of poets and critics visiting the house on 3 Velintonia Street. There, several generations intertwined. Carlos Bousoño, José Luis Cano, José Olivio Jiménez, Francisco Brines, and Paco Nieva were among Claudio’s first classmates and friends. The list increased with other fellow traveler in the adventure of poetry and life such as Blas de Otero, José Hierro, José Ángel Valente, Dionisio Cañas, Ángel González, Pablo García Baena, Jesús Hilario Tundidor, Rafael Morales and Antonio Gamoneda, or the younger poets and writers Antonio Colinas, Luis Alberto de Cuenca, Pere Gimferrer, Jaime Siles, Gustavo Martín Garzo and José Miguel Ullán. These are the testimonies of poets contemporary to Claudio Rodríguez. The testimonies are texts –completed or fragmented— in which the relationship with the man and the poetry is made explicit. Friendship and admiration are melted in the voices of those who were fortunate enough to know both the man and the poet.