Six Men. Three Decades. One Woman.
Love from the Vortex & Other Poems (Kaleidoscope Vibrations, LLC), is poet and scholar-activist Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz’s first full-length collection. An archeological exploration on love and intimacy, the book charts her journey of finding and losing love over the span of three decades with six different men who came into her life at various times, but also offers a universal take on what can happen when one seeks love and connection with others, and the lessons that follow when that connection and love is lost.
Revealing moments of happiness, fantasy, frustration, and eventually dealing with the dissolution of relationships, the book moves beyond these anticipated stages to moments of grace and beauty that come with the discovery and practice of self love, and a fuller understanding of what it means to truly love someone as your love yourself.
Love from the Vortex topped Amazon's print and Kindle lists for African American Poetry!
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“Love from the Vortex is an evocative book of poems that ceaselessly opens our hearts page after page. Dr. Sealey-Ruiz holds our hands and walks us through her journey of finding, losing and holding onto love. One falls out and falls back in love by the end of it. This is a must have for those of us who enjoy expanding our hearts while we read. Now more than ever, we need texts like this that remind us of the art of loving in full presence.” -Angel Acosta, Founder, New York City Healing Collective
"I was quite in awe of these poems. The poems are beautifully written. They are compelling , emotive, and evocative. They captured my soul and left me feeling vulnerable. "
"Sealey-Ruiz opens a world to us in which we are reminded of the importance of speaking truthfully - with both love and rage - about our past and the lovers and loved ones who bring us to the present - and home." Jacqueline Woodson, Red At The Bone
"Through Yolanda’s poetry, I began the process of cleaving from my spirit all the trauma associated with my previous attempts at validating my existence with external love, and made space for the internal love I have learned to grow for myself. At various moments during my engagement with Love from the vortex, I felt as if I were listening to a private conversation about love, lust, desperation, heartbreak, and peace that I shouldn’t be listening to, not because they were the thoughts and experiences of someone else, but because they were my own. Yolanda vulnerably explores through her poetry many of the things I have wanted to say to myself but lacked the courage.She courageously takes up themes that are often treated as off limits-taboo even; the feelings we bury. This book brought to the surface all the things and emotions I had buried. And as Yolanda digs into her innermost sensitivities, I dug too. I felt her growth across the book’s pages. Consequently, I grew too." - Shamari K. Reid
Love. It is universal and yet so misunderstood. Love from the Vortex is such a personal collection of poetry on the anatomy of passion and what happens when it fades or slips away. Reading this book conjured images of my own lost loves and the ways I too grew tired of the ones who couldn’t or wouldn’t return what I freely, and sometimes foolishly, gave. There is hope and fire and vulnerability joined by power and possiblity in these pages. Read if you want to feel something deep." -Jennifer McLaughlin Cahill
Praise for Love from the Vortex & Other Poems
Love from the Vortex Theme Song
Playlists
Songs of Respite – these songs helped me heal along my journey with the six: Joseph (1-4), Ean (5-8), Angel (9-13), Salvador (14-17), Zaren (18-23), and Tyrone (24-28).
These songs represent moments of joy, self-security, self-love, and peace during my time in the vortex. The vortex was not just a place of confusion and uncertainty for me. Healing and liberation are what these songs represented for me in the vortex.
Fall into the Vortex with Yolie
Fall into the Vortex with Yolie debuted July 22nd on YouTube and Instagram!
Follow me on IG at @yolie_sealeyruiz and subscribe to my YouTube Channel to watch all episodes of Season One!
Yolanda was featured in The Brainwaves Video Anthology reciting four poems published in her upcoming book, Love from the Vortex & Other Poems.
The Brainwaves series showcases short videos on ideas and topics of education relevant to student-centered learning the 21st century. The video anthology is filmed and produced by Bob Greenberg.
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