About Me, Inspirational, Personal, Poems, Writing

The ALA Book Conference & 2014 International Latino Book Awards

On June 28th, immediately after the completion of my Voices of Our Nations Arts (VONA) workshop at UC Berkeley I boarded a plane to Las Vegas for the American Library Association Book Conference and the 2014 International Latino Awards where I would be signing copies and attending an awards ceremony for my award winning book, Letters to My Daughter. I was not prepared for the 105 degree heat … Continue reading The ALA Book Conference & 2014 International Latino Book Awards

Nancy Arroyo RuffinJuly 5, 2014July 5, 2014Leave a comment

Mamihood, Poems

For colored girls

She will learn from early that she carries history in her hair. Generations of thick tangled tresses. Genetically made up to be wild, not tamed or managed or straightened. Tautly twined coils stretched like the goatskin that cover djembe drums each lock relentlessly rebelling. Defiant like sugar cane, too relentless to conform, to transform, to be altered into something that she wasn’t really destined to … Continue reading For colored girls

Nancy Arroyo RuffinJuly 4, 2014July 4, 2014Leave a comment

Love, Mamihood, Personal, Poems

The Chosen (Part II)

You are: in the strength of my bones in the curve of my muscles in the crown of my hair in the nape of my neck in the gentleness of my hands in the richness of my blood in the light of my shadow. No longer driven by the restless urge to create. Like nights, spent under Parisian skies viewing paintings at the Louvre. Bathing … Continue reading The Chosen (Part II)

Nancy Arroyo RuffinNovember 29, 2013November 29, 20132 Comments

Love, Poems

Asphalt Dreams (on Palmetto Street)

A tree grows in Brooklyn and so did my dreams on the cracked asphalt of tenement building stoops a flower trying to break through but roses don’t bloom here that’s what I was told Never believing that I could ever see a world beyond my periphery struggling with tunnel vision I watch passersby and they watch me, holding my baby close, never expecting me … Continue reading Asphalt Dreams (on Palmetto Street)

Nancy Arroyo RuffinJune 2, 2013Leave a comment

Love, Poems

Tattoo

he wore love on his arm tatted on his skin, a reminder to love himself because no one will do the job better but instead, he loved her dutifully in the morning in the evening and until the sun rose again her warmth had become his security seeking her out whenever he was afraid she was the sun at dusk that kissed the sky goodnight … Continue reading Tattoo

Nancy Arroyo RuffinApril 13, 2013Leave a comment

Poems

Writing Prompt: Dear Fear..

Dear Fear, There are days that I don’t think about you at all. You hide yourself well often appearing when I least expect it. I see you in my baby girl’s smiling eyes I hear you in her coos I feel you in her embrace I smell you in her scent, as I hold her tightly while she tugs gently on my face Knowing that … Continue reading Writing Prompt: Dear Fear..

Nancy Arroyo RuffinMarch 17, 2013Leave a comment

Poems

Liberation

liberation won’t come through prayer, even though I’ve tried to free myself from the temptation of his kiss, his touch, the way he whispers my name when we make love lost deep in the ocean of my scent, his hands, paint petroglyphs on my skin I carry traces of his love like DNA addiction of any kind can be deadly and I’ll admit I … Continue reading Liberation

Nancy Arroyo RuffinJanuary 26, 2013January 26, 2013Leave a comment

Love, Mamihood, Personal, Poems

The Chosen (Part 2)

A few years ago I wrote a poem titled The Chosen which spoke of my struggle to conceive. It was probably the most personal poem I’ve ever written. With the birth of my beautiful daughter I felt that it was necessary to write a follow-up poem because I have finally been chosen to be a mother. These past five months have been the best five months of … Continue reading The Chosen (Part 2)

Nancy Arroyo RuffinDecember 16, 2012December 16, 2012Leave a comment

Poems

De Donde Vengo Yo (Where I’m From)

This want of knowing is greater than the need of oxygen in my lungs For, to be alive and not know who you are or where you’re from is not the same as living. De donde vengo yo is not a question. It is a statement. An affirmation of where I’m from. Because where I’m from, history wears the face of family. It’s my grandmother’s … Continue reading De Donde Vengo Yo (Where I’m From)

Nancy Arroyo RuffinOctober 18, 2012October 20, 2012Leave a comment

Love, Personal, Poems

The Chosen…

I first wrote this poem about 2 years ago. I wanted to put into words or at least try to put into words the aching emptiness in my heart. Today, I re-read it for the first time in almost year and now that I am 9 months pregnant I can finally say that I’ve been chosen. I am living proof that when you finally start … Continue reading The Chosen…

Nancy Arroyo RuffinJune 26, 2012June 26, 2012Leave a comment