Poets To Put to Memory: Ruth Fainlight

Ruth Fainlight poetry takes time to read. She reworks the words sometimes for years. Her writing is lyrical and longing.

           

" On my right hand since then

 I’ve always worn the ring

my father and I chose

as my twenty-first birthday present.

On my left hand, these months

since her death. my mother’s ring:

the engagement ring he bought her

half a century ago,

and gave to me, after the funeral.

...

I spread my hands on the desk.

Prominent tendons and veins

on the back, like hers;

red worn skin of the palm

that chaps and breaks

so easily, inherited

from my father. Even without

the rings, the flesh of my hands

is their memorial.

No need for anything

more formal. Not gold

 nor platinum and precious stones

can serve as well

as these two orphaned hands."

Ruth Fainlight

The hands which do not bear her parent's wedding bands, they are the genetic following of her beloved Mother and Father. Ruth gets to the center of grief, loss and carrying on.

In our fast paced world of u-tube and noise, take some time to memorize a few lines. I can feel the sound of the words when I recite Ruth's work to memory as I walk.