Ricardo Ruiz didn’t set out to reinvent poetry—he set out to save the stories disappearing from his community. Growing up in Othello, Washington, Ruiz noticed something troubling: the people around him, including his parents, potato factory workers who immigrated from Mexico, and the families working beside them in the fields carried profound stories they never shared.
What Ruiz created in response has made him one of the most innovative voices in contemporary American poetry. His debut collection, We Had Our Reasons: Poems by Ricardo Ruiz and Other Hardworking Mexicans from Eastern Washington, earned the 2023 Washington State Book Award for Poetry, but its significance goes far beyond accolades.
The poems were written in collaboration with 13 members of his Eastern Washington community, many of whom work agricultural jobs, some who lack documentation, and several who survived human trafficking. The poems’ bylines honor the storytellers as co-authors. Ruiz drew inspiration for this collaborative documentary method from William Wordsworth’s vision of writing “poems for the average man in the average tongue.”
Each poem is presented bilingually. The book concludes with biographical sketches and interview transcripts, revealing the real people behind the poems as voices that deserve to be heard on their own terms.
“I still have that feeling of like, man, I gotta work extra hard to make sure it’s right.”
From Combat Veteran to Conduit
Ruiz’s path to poetry was anything but direct. An Army combat veteran who earned recognition as a Distinguished Honor Graduate and a Distinguished Leader during his Advanced Leadership Course, he returned from service struggling with PTSD and his own identity. A community college professor suggested he try expressing his feelings through poetry—and Ruiz discovered his calling.
He began writing in 2017, though he admits he still sometimes feels like an impostor: “As of right now, I still have that feeling of like, man, I gotta work extra hard to make sure it’s right,” he told the Yakima Herald That willingness to acknowledge his own struggles with grammar and confidence is precisely what makes him such a powerful teacher.
The Power of Recognition
During one reading, a young man approached Ruiz after hearing a poem about harvesting cherries and eating lunch over the trunk of a car. In a public radio interview, Ruiz remembered the teenager switching from English to Spanish, and saying: “I’ve never seen myself in a piece of literature before…Your poem is so real because I spend my summers in the fields with my parents. Thank you. Because for the first time, I can see that my story can be told.”
This is the transformative work Ruiz does—not just creating beautiful poems, but opening doors for others to see their lives as worthy of art.
What to Expect at Handwork Week
In his workshop “Portals of the Poetic Self: The Five Senses,” Ruiz will guide participants through his method of crafting sensory-rich poetry grounded in lived experience. Known for poems that are “short, punching, powerful”—designed for emotional impact and quick pacing—his teaching emphasizes storytelling in accessible language while honoring the raw truth of personal experience. Secondgenstories
Participants will receive two rounds of personalized feedback, engage in close readings and peer workshops, and learn not just craft techniques but how to approach stories with the respect and care they deserve.
Ruiz is already at work on his next collaborative project: stories of veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. For Ruiz, poetry is about making space for voices that have been silenced, and teaching others to do the same.
Learn more: poetruiz.com
Registration Details
“Portals of the Poetic Self: The Five Senses” runs April 27-May 1, 2026, 1 – 5 PM daily at BARN’s Writers’ Studio. Cost: $605 for members, $670 for guests. The workshop is part of BARN’s Handwork Week, celebrating American craft alongside the national Handwork 2026 initiative.
In this immersive experience, you’ll receive two rounds of personalized feedback from the instructor, participate in close readings, peer workshops, and build a polished portfolio of poems. You’ll leave this workshop inspired to write boldly and connect authentically with your material, whether you’re just beginning or looking to deepen your craft.
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