Ricardo Ruiz wasn’t supposed to become an award-winning poet. But sometimes life has other plans. The son of Mexican immigrants, Ruiz joined the military after a tumultuous youth. When he returned home, he found himself struggling with combat trauma, with no clear path forward.

Then he found poetry, and it changed everything.

In this powerful conversation, award-winning poet Ricardo Ruiz shares his raw, unfiltered journey from growing up watching his parents work the agricultural fields of Eastern Washington to serving 7.5 years in the military, battling combat trauma, and ultimately discovering his voice through verse.

He reads two of his original poems from his first book, We Had Our Reasons, and reveals the moment a single letter from a student made every late-night struggle over his manuscript worth it.

You’ll hear about:

  • Why poetry became his lifeline when therapy wasn’t accessible
  • How Wordsworth inspired him to tell the stories of farmworkers and mechanics
  • The undocumented worker poisoned by pesticides, who was too afraid to go to the hospital
  • What it means when a kid finally sees himself in a poem for the first time

“Poetry is an act of revolution. Writing is the way to change.” Ricardo Ruiz is teaching at BARN as part of Handwork Week 2026. Learn more at BainbridgeBARN.org/Handwork