Stirring Up the Waters (Poems) Review

Ruiz's collection is organized into 5 sections  1- Peeled Red Onion (10 poems), 2- Smoke Rising (18 poems) 3- Soaring ( 12 poems)  4- At the Edge (18 poems)  5- These Places (14 poems).   The poem titles alone piqued my interest:  Beneath Bare Feet, At A Gathering of Friends, Why I Gave Jason B. an A On His Paper Even Though he Called Sherman Alexie a Hack,  What Happened to Your Love Poems ?,  Off Reservation Blues,  Soft Clicking Prayers,  and Saturday Afternoon at the Fights.

There's a gentle warmth to many of the poems which find an unusual balance at times between bittersweet childhood memories and an affectionate embrace of the past.  You won't find any cynicism here-despite the sometimes strong subject matter of prejudice, politics, heart-ache, personal identity, and life's injustices.

Ruiz captures poignant details are easy to identify with and understand.  This is not a difficult book of poems to read, though some poems do have layers of meanings.  Most will find the experience of reading these poems as easy as taking a dip in a heated pool.

You might find fault with how calm and gentle many of these poems are; particularly within a volume entitled Stirring up the Waters - several poems barely create a ripple.   

In the poem entitled: Peeled Red Onions, Cat's collection of published writing is compared to a yard full of weeds and dandelions, and then layers of onions.

"Peeled red onions once lay in this box

where copies of my published writing are now packed

like layers of onion,

they are the pulp of past harvests

and this is but

another field of feeling

I pass

on an end of summer afternoon. "

Her carefully chosen words often convey several emotions at once, reflecting on life changing events without getting overly sentimental or maudlin.   She creates recognizable visual cues to bring immediate access to her emotional feelings.    Notice how much she conveys in just 6 seemingly simple lines from A HAWK CIRCLED:

"Now a Hawk circles over the cemetery grounds

where my uncle's ashes are buried

and up high stretch two wings,

a brave and certain look in  the eyes. 

that must have been the same he'd worn when wounded in 1944

as he lay on a hillside waiting."

We learn through various poems about childhood, Cat found refuge from racism and alienation by staying close to her family.  Her darker skin (she's half Canadian Cree and half Spanish) and different features made her the subject of childhood taunts and bullying.  Her father advised her to stand up to the bullies (as if she was a male child).

A few poems are too gentle, a few try to hard to honor the memories of loved ones in a melancholy that doesn't always connect to the reader.  On occasion she uses overly familiar imagery and phrases that seem near cliché and blunt any impact a few poems may have been going for.

There are also a few current event political poems written in response to  09/11 or Elian Gonzales that don't seem unique enough from other poems to be of lasting value.  They are tasteful but not memorable.   Perhaps I am too used to poems that attempt to be controversial, attempt to shock and so I was impatient with these poems.  Cat is very consistent throughout this collection.

"The old call to become the mystic in the city touches my inner ear.

To be separate from all, yet part of the One;

to forget the self, all its petty grievances and cares."

From the poem:  I am Thinking of the Snake River Canton Again.

I've read poems from others that attempt to capture Zen philosophy or simply frame a particular moment.   Why should I remember this poem, these words?  I won't and wish a better Ruiz poem was in its place. 

Poems like: The Orcas' Dance,  Off Reservation Blues,  Latitude 20  Longitude 160  have lines that make me want to catch my breath after I read them-and I eagerly pause and read the lines again.  Good poetry should slow you down, make you savor life, allow you to see things differently, have a new perspective. I found some in this collection.

". . . latitude 20 longitude 160

where foam danced around us

like a cloud white dress

until

his hand and mine

bled the lifeline,

our dream

clinging to the rudder

spiraling into the ocean and finally

settling into the sand."

From Latitude 20 Longitude 160

AND

"Because I was not ready for forever,

the afternoon spilled into evening

a pastel sky darkened into dusk

and I had to draw the blinds"

From Because I was Not Ready For Forever

AND

"Let us speak of grasses crunching

Under your feet, of little deleterious barbed weeds

Finagling themselves into your shoes

And pricking you as you walk and try to breathe

In the heated stillness"

-- From On a Theme of a Hot Summer Day

The details in Ruiz's poems are often presented as rituals; Feeding hummingbirds,  standing at the edge of water, burning love letters, simple moments on a walk all turned into almost spiritual -like rituals through the words of her poem.  

At times a poem may seem too simple, too plain, but then, either with a second read or as you near its end, something suddenly appears, transcending the poem into something more.  

"I imagine my feet aching, but the quiet stillness, the firm lines

of the mouths intriguing me enough to keep putting

one foot in front of the other

to the top of a hill where

the sapphire blue Mediterranean sea tilts over the edge of Columbus'

world. "

From:  I Imagine it to be Hot and Dusty in Southern Spain.

Stirring up the Waters is Cat Ruiz' first full-fledged collection of poetry, but it is obvious she is a seasoned poet who has been honing her craft for many years. At times her words are gentle and readers can sip her thoughts and images delicately;  At other times the words are passionate and splash off the page with all the energy of a storm at sea.

This collection of poems won the First Book Award in Poetry from the Native Writers Circle of the Americas

Highly recommended.

FULL BOOK INFO:

EAN13:  9781844714056
ISBN:  9781844714056
Author:  Cat Ruiz
Title:  Stirring Up the Water
Series:  Earthworks
Product class:  BC
Language:  eng
Audience:  General/trade
BIC subject category:  CTCH1
Publisher:  Salt Publishing
Pub date:  20-Dec-07
Extent:  132pp
Height:  216 mm
Width:  140 mm
Thickness:  8 mm
Weight:  198 gms
Price:  GBP 9.99
Price:  USD 15.95
Rights:  World