Love from the Vortex and Other Poems

Dr. Sealey-Ruiz's book of poetry is not only heartfelt and uncompromisingly honest, but it is also filled with exquisite and captivating turns of phrase and profound insights. She manifests her heart on every page, displayng both its resilience in the face of pain, disappointment, and suffering and its incredible expansiveness and willingness--even need--to love. Her heart blends with ours through her acknowledgement of its common humanity. With her lovely, poetic words, she shows us that love is both human and divine. And she doesn't shy away from her humanity, which unites us more fully with her. She admits, with love and compassion, the failings and weaknesses of her own heart, which helps us recognize and forgive our own. She graciously accepts the pain she endures from the same mistakes we all make when we reach for the perfect love. And she brings us with her as she questions her heart, her mind, her loves. When we read her poetry, we are not alone. She offers us a powerful, invigorating, and comforting camaraderie. Through sharing with us her relentless surges toward love, despite setbacks, heartbreaks, and pain, she enables us to gain the courage to continue in our individual pursuits of love with confidence that not only will we survive but, regardless of outcomes, will reach a deeper understanding in which we will find a restful peace and a greater potential for self-love. Dr. Sealey-Ruiz offers, with this poetic handbook of love, a helping hand to those who are too timid to free fall into love. She teaches us, gently and persistently, how to love for love's sake. In doing this, she dives into the very depths of her soul and brings up precious gems that she then drapes her reader in as she tells the story of the expansions and contractions of her own most unfathomable and worthy heart. I sincerely hope that no one will miss the unique experience of reading this most remarkable work of poetry, of life!

Love from the Vortex & Other Poems is a very compelling, vulnerable, richly honest, and ultimately spiritually uplifting book of poetry. But, it is so much more. Throughout this wonderful book, Dr. Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz in her own way reminds us that Love is a powerful rhythm that invites us all at several points in our lives to just dance! And, even for the rhythmically challenged, we should say YES! When we are scared, anxious, and unsure about the immediate future of burgeoning relationships, we should still say yes, I will dance. Yes, Dr. Sealey-Ruiz teaches us through her poetry that when we dance we may glide across the floor, misstep, or even stumble, and some of our dance partners will be captivating, gentle, caressing, skillful (in the right and wrong ways), and committed… and no, some will not. But Love is the rhythm and it sweetly beckons us to dance. She beautifully prompts us with her stanzas that by all means we should dance. And, as our Ancestors have shown us over and over again, there is communication, energy, excitement, learning, yearning, peace, power, and yes, healing in the dance. This poetry speaks! Indeed, Love from the Vortex is more than a book of poetry because it is an intimate journaling of a very generous journeywoman, who has seen many rivers, and who has graciously offered to honestly tell us about them. So, I challenge you to inhale, and take this delightful and breathtaking journey with this Healer, and see if you don’t embrace humanity a little tighter. As you exhale, feel yourself smile, cry, cheer, cuss, shout, SNAP, laugh, and answer the call of Love from the Vortex. You will be glad that you did!

I was trying to articulate what I found especially brave and refreshing about Dr. Sealey-Ruiz’s writing, and I located some of it in the Afterword: it’s unusual to write a set of love poems about ex-lovers. It’s even more unusual to use the occasion, not to denigrate those who have hurt us, but to see our own flaws, our own willingness to love again in those stories, and to experience the release from getting the feelings to paper. Reading as a woman, it is also refreshing—and this should not be the case in 2021, but it is—to read of a woman’s sexual and sensual desires and cravings and fulfillments. Not too many women—and certainly not academics for whom the topic is not their official area of expertise—are courageous enough to do that. Lucky for us, we have this gift of writing. Yes, women desire and yes, writing about it is powerful. Thank you for writing this!

I enjoyed reading Yolanda's poems which communicate a felt sense of her personal journey holistically expressed. Each poem is a particular piece of an evolving story; each section of poems connects with the next as part of an evolving reflection on life. The poems demonstrate how expressive presentational knowing brings and shares meaning from felt experiences. The inner Yolanda, emerging through the practice of poetry, makes a connection with the reader. As I meditatively read Yolanda's poems, an analogy arises for me with the writings of Eckhart Tolle who uses the metaphor of a person being like a lake - "The outer situation of your life and whatever happens there is the surface of the lake, sometimes calm, sometimes windy and rough according to the cycles and seasons. Deep down, however, the lake is always undisturbed. You are the whole lake, not just the surface, and you are in touch with your own depth." In reading Yolanda's poems, I felt like she has been finding the peace of the inner bottom of the lake. (review by Lyle Yorks)