Rima Ruhman, a poet with an open heart and a hungry soul
RIMA RUHMAN
Divine
Feminine Consciousness: WRITER and ARTIST
About Me.
I have 20 journals of my life, starting from age 9. I started writing because I had no one I trusted and now I write with abandon. I trained myself to trust the written word.
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My journey on this glorious planet Earth, this shifting, spinning piece of rock in the midst of a divine universe, is coming back to myself, to accept myself as I am and to go back to the source of my origin. I didn't just accept who I was so what I am now is more powerful and more real and earned: I am a full-blooded Palestinian Muslim woman with an indelible romantic streak, no matter what happens, and someone who is always willing to learn and be curious about the world, while opening my heart to Allah and to the cosmos as a whole.
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I have been writing as a profession for almost 30 years. I was a journalist, a technical writer, a professor of writing and technical communications. My dream, however, has always been to be a fiction writer and a poet and I am happy to say that next October, my first novel will be published. It is about being a Palestinian-American Muslim female artist in the United States, struggling with culture, religion, and family expectations. I know it will resonate with many, even those who are not from my background or culture. I think a lot of us walk around feeling like aliens on Earth sometimes. I am right there with you.
I am working on a second novel now, called Desideratum, about a robot who achieves complete empathy and a soul. It is an exploration of what it is to be human and what it means to be divine.
Education
2020-Present
California Institute for Integral Studies
Master's in Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness
2008-2010
George Mason University
Master of Science in Technology Management, summa cum laude, winner of the final Capstone project
1991-1995
University of Virginia
Bachelor of Arts in English Literature, with a concentration on Middle East studies and Drama
Some published writing
Book an Appointment for Writing Services
Do you need help with writing or editing any type of document? I can help with resumes, white papers, scientific publications, fiction, poetry, articles, newsletters, and pretty much anything else. Email me for a consultation.
Art for Wellness
Art can be a calming and motivational outlet for many people. Research shows that art can have a powerful influence on a person’s well-being and outlook. Art therapy can help a body filled with stress and fear become relaxed and focused.
Art therapy is a beneficial treatment method when used in conjunction with traditional modes of recovery. For people with co-occurring disorders, art therapy can help manage certain mental illnesses, like depression, anxiety disorders, and bipolar disorder.
What is inside you that you can express?
Don't overthink it. Take out your paints and just let the color flow, there does not need to be a plan, just a passion for what you are doing.
Living in Saudi Arabia
I was born in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia but we moved to North America when I was only two years old. I never thought it would happen, that I would return to Saudi, but I am currently living in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, which is about a 4 hour drive from Riyadh, the capital of Saudi. Life has changed here over the past few years-- music, women drive, they don't need permission to travel from their fathers or brothers. It is a brave new world.
I am currently
"Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars."
Khalil Gibran
Words to Describe Me
Don't be afraid, look in the mirror and write it all down. It is therapy.
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Messy silly impatient tired fat pretty hunched over quiet shy rash foolish brave smart creative artsy codependent neglected abused lost old silly lazy sleepy cranky good sense of humor anxious depressed smoker writer wife good bad girlfriend friend daughter sister soul mate divine mate human trapped free crazy paranoid gaslit naive gullible unknowing last to know healing serene restless sleeping too much sleep too little crying weeping sad melancholic rested freak sexy childish childlike stupid ignorant sell out Muslim Jew Christian thoughtful thoughtless graceful graceless original copycat hairy curly-haired freakish scary risky moneyed poor tragic romantic philosophical sense nonsensical hungry weepy smiley laughing kind unkind cruel sweet Arab Palestinian self-serving selfish selfless martyr whore prostitute maiden virgin slut envied envious suspicious epic famous unknown notorious reputed known forgotten remembered well-read critic poet artist reader talker invisible too-visible noticed ignored loved hated admired reviled refugee sheltered sheltering titan narcissist self-promoting god satan adult ugly weird compassionate unfeeling uncaring achy grumpy withholding confrontational screaming yelling unmannered mute unrelenting giving up addict saint grandeur manic vain shallow heartless responsible irresponsible not a gardener sorry not sorry alien alone scared trying to hard not enough phony fake wanna-be Arabic English patient dry humorless thick blood droopy defeated victorious crappy bitchy stupid bitch asshole fighter competitive live and let live pushover railroaded underpaid overpaid fulfilled talented award unaware triumphant loser well-traveled hermit agoraphobic mentally ill unsuitable diagnosed lectured to opinionated no clue simple complicated complex amoeba huge small fractured damaged dirty diseased spoiled unspoiled thinker feeler Aquarius Pisces genius idiotic popular friendless beautiful hideous black lunged pure victim oppressor frigid uncaring unaffectionate unaffected affected damaged disputed homeless cast out imprisoned banished speller editor award-winning failure childless husbandless terrible cook bad mother kitty lover worshiper playful boring dull uninspiring inspired inspiring uncouth rude hard soft hearted hopeless useless directionless autistic weed orchid rare unusual common ordinary unremarkable magical cynical persuaded persuading speaker story teller fan mentor mentee broken cheerless peerless decrepit insulated bubble girl exposed over-exposed social unsocial anti-social suicidal loving life hopeful despairing impressionable unmoved careful careless hateful happy grieving unmoved judgmental no judgement articulate no words expressive poker-face alone crowded contented discontented satisfied dissatisfied never satisfied technical non-technical understanding jinxed cursed cursing desired missed forgiven unforgiven orphaned family misscarrier baby-killer dream crusher dreams crushed dreams fulfilled cheated on honored big-chested hugged kissed fucked cried on cum-on tease raped crapped on kicked hurt dry wet hurting vulnerable shielded open-hearted closed-hearted spiritual non-believer believer dust blood guts cancer non-cancer hymen soulful soulless sociopath empath resigned great hanging-in holding on sore enraged pitiful giving greedy conceited non-white underprivileged underpaid overpriced overpriveleged underpaid white Saudi thinking woman girl fetus 2-year old tantrum maker banished relieved fatigued persistent pestering nagging generous stingy clear unclear huge tiny emerging dead innovative trite not-belonging marginal callous repetitive itchy smelly creamy virtuous self-righteous wrong impertinent meek weak-willed strong-willed sniffly grainy farty gassy coughing alert asleep sleep-walking gone ever-present eternal fleeting singer screecher preacher praiser people-pleaser willing unwilling stable unstable flexible inflexible searching stagnant uncivilized raised-by-apes farmer servant queen peasant falah nervous nerve-inducing provocative active inactive moving immobile fatty frog-face impervious shattered transparent enigmatic strong self worth no value useless begging proud meditator worldly other-worldly touched untouched bathed unwashed cremated buried frozen burning
Diary of a Palestinian Wound--
Mahmoud Darwish
We do not need to be reminded:
Mount Carmel is in us
and on our eyelashes the grass of Galilee.
Do not say: If we could run to her like a river.
Do not say it:
We and our country are one flesh and bone.
Before June we were not fledgeling doves
so our love did not wither in bondage.
Sister, these twenty years
our work was not to write poems
but to be fighting.
The shadow that descends over your eyes
-demon of a God
who came out of the month of June
to wrap around our heads the sun-
his color is martyrdom
the taste of prayer.
How well he kills, how well he resurrects!
The night that began in your eyes-
in my soul it was a long night's end:
Here and now we keep company
on the road of our return
from the age of drought.
And we came to know what makes the voice of the nightingale
a dagger shining in the face of the invaders.
We came to know what makes the silence of the graveyard
a festival...orchards of life.
You sang your poems, I saw the balconies
desert their walls
the city square extending to the midriff of the mountain:
It was not music we heard.
It was not the color of words we saw:
A million heroes were in the room.
This land absorbs the skins of martyrs.
This land promises wheat and stars.
Worship it!
We are its salt and its water.
We are its wound, but a wound that fights.
Sister, there are tears in my throat
and there is fire in my eyes:
I am free.
No more shall I protest at the Sultan's Gate.
All who have died, all who shall die at the Gate of Day
have embraced me, have made of me a weapon.
Ah my intractable wound!
My country is not a suitcase
I am not a traveler
I am the lover and the land is the beloved.
The archaeologist is busy analyzing stones.
In the rubble of legends he searches for his own eyes
to show
that I am a sightless vagrant on the road
with not one letter in civilization's alphabet.
Meanwhile in my own time I plant my trees.
I sing of my love.
It is time for me to exchange the word for the deed
Time to prove my love for the land and for the nightingale:
For in this age the weapon devours the guitar
And in the mirror I have been fading more and more
Since at my back a tree began to grow.
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