Alalá by Sofia Ruvira
In Sofía Ruvira’s shining poetry collection Alalá we witness the birth pains of words from the womb of a great young Spanish poet from Galicia, who is experiencing the eternal pressure of a young artist’s life in New York City. “Just like a brick placed in the in-between of these languages”. She takes us on a confessional journey, moving from her post-migrant’s poetic melancholia to a newly baked, more joyful Yankee’s Alas. Ruvira’s poems, written in English, and interwoven with golden threads of Galician words, occasionally morph beautifully into crafted typographic Concrete Poetry. Her New-York-School-Of-The-Moment poetic observations and journal entries are her acid etchings onto the walls of The City, where the background counts as much as the writing on the surface.
Frank Hentschker
The Graduate Center CUNY
In Sofía Ruvira’s shining poetry collection Alalá we witness the birth pains of words from the womb of a great young Spanish poet from Galicia, who is experiencing the eternal pressure of a young artist’s life in New York City. “Just like a brick placed in the in-between of these languages”, she states. In Ruvira’s Canto Americano Alalá (Alas, in English—from the Latin lassus, meaning tired, weary, languid, a sense of sorrow, or a sigh of regret) she takes us on a confessional journey, moving from her post-migrant’s poetic melancholia to a newly baked, more joyful Yankee’s Alas. “My home country is Galicia, but my hometown is New York,” she writes.
Ruvira’s poems, written in English, and interwoven with golden threads of Galician words, occasionally morph beautifully into crafted typographic Concrete Poetry. Her New-York-School-Of-The-Moment poetic observations and journal entries are her acid etchings onto the walls of The City, where the background counts as much as the writing on the surface. I was here, she tell us, in this moment—and “we feel the hole inside her chest that un-allows [her] to breathe” when smelling petrichor in a garden after a heavy rain. Or we listen to her difficulties to sayquérote—I love you—to Zack, the love of her life, a New York musician.
Ruvira’s palabras perdidas, palabras atopadas—words lost and found—recalls Fernando Pessoa existential utterings as well as the gesture Roland Barthes detected in Cy Twombly’s struggle with words on white paper. Barthes wrote that it’s not about seeing/reading Twombly’s product, to think or to taste it—but about understanding the movement that brought it forward. We need to know about the movemento in order to see again, to identify, or even to enjoy it. Ruvira’s poetry creates such a knowledge, where understanding takes place. At the end of the collection, she is enjoying herself in bed, reading Sylvia Plath at Coney Island and Houellebecq at Café Reggio—. She “did not come for this,” but, yes, she can proudly say: “I am not a liar—I am just eu [me.]”
Frank Hentschker
Martin E. Segal Theatre Center
The Graduate Center CUNY, New York
Alalá – Sofía Ruvira – Arteidolia Press 2024 →
Alalá by Sofía Ruvira emerges as a rich tapestry of diverse genres, delving into the profound themes of migration, land, and femininity. Rooted in the experiences of indigenous communities and the diaspora, Alalá is shaped within the vibrant landscape of Lenapehoking’s neighborhoods. Ruvira’s approach involves a dynamic exploration of words through various lenses, incorporating somatic work, voice, and dance. She’s interested in experiences of hybridity and disjuncture. Her work focuses on the premises of erosion, archive and ephemerality. Alalá is a reflection of this multidimensional exploration. Sofía Ruvira is a native Galician artist, writer and researcher.
Sofía Ruvira is a native artist and researcher from the stateless nation of Galicia in Northwestern Spain. She is now pursuing a PhD at Yale University. Ruvira has shown her work at Ciclo MEXER at MIHL (Galicia), Newark Art Festival (New Jersey), PAUSA USA (Queens) and Acción Spring(t) (Madrid), IHRAF at The Tank (NYC) and others. Her art pieces have been exhibit in Centro Galego de Arte Contemporánea, CA+MP Recovery Lounge, Museo Interactivo de Historia de Lugo, Solaina Galería (Spain), among others. She will be publishing Os corpos fráxiles (Aira, 2025) and Casasoá (Vento Alto, 2025).
ISBN: 979-8-9889702-5-5, 96 pages, $14.00
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