Everything I Kept: Todo Lo Que Guardé

by Ruth Behar, Rolando Estévez (Illustrator)

Moving between the speech and silence of a woman struggling to speak freely, Ruth Behar embarks on a poetic voyage into her own vulnerability and the sacrifices of her exiled ancestors as she tries to understand love, loss, regret, and the things we keep and carry with us. Behar’s vivid renderings of wilted gardens, crashing waves, and firefly-lit nights recall the imagery of her inspiration, Dulce María Loynaz, who is often known as the Cuban Emily Dickinson. Presented in a beautiful bilingual English-Spanish edition—Behar serves as her own translator— Everything I Kept/Todo lo que guardé will haunt readers with the cries and whispers which illuminate the human spirit and the spectrum of emotions that make for a life and lives well-remembered.  

Genres: Poetry

128 pages, Paperback

Published May 15, 2018

Reviews

[Deborah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the sweetness and vulnerability of the poetry of the Cuban born author, who was raised in New York City, and currently teaches in Michigan. Her collection of poems are written in both Spanish and English on the Garden/Jardin, Prayer/Rezo, Freedom/Libertad, Return/Volver, and Offering/Ofrenda. I would read the Spanish versions first, but my attempts in rendering the beauty of her English poems fell short as I am neither a poet nor a translator.

From Kindness/Amabilidad in part:

"One day, when we are old and have forgotten how our bodies tasted in our youth, let us remember each other, years ago ... Let us remember how our palms touched, and then our fingers, and then our shoulders, and then our lips, and then our souls. ..."

[Veronica Jorge · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everything I Kept / Todo Lo Que Guarde by Ruth Behar
Swan Isle Press; Bilingual edition, May 2018 ISBN 978 0997228724

Poetry may not be the first book you reach for when selecting your next read, but in this case it should be. In Todo Lo Que Guarde/Everything I Kept, Ruth Behar once again demonstrates her wide range of writing skills and her understanding of the human condition. Written with honesty and courage from the richness of her own soul and experiences, the poems express the universal language of life: sorrow, displacement, loneliness, loss, fear, and regret. Her words depict the emotions and actions that reveal our states of mind; how we see ourselves, and how we relate to one another.

Don’t draw back thinking you won’t understand the language of poetry. As the anthropologist and literary writer that she is, Ruth Behar’s poems speak directly to the heart. You will be surprised by how much of your hidden self you discover as her words give voice to your own unspoken fears and hopes.

And men, don’t think this collection is just for women. Each poem will reveal something about your partner that will warm your heart toward her and make you love her more.
Written in English and Spanish by the author, the meaning and nuance of the poetic language remain intact.

And if you’ve ever studied Spanish, this bilingual translation will make you fall in love with the language all over again.

Veronica Jorge
November 14, 2018

[Keith Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Prose poems in both Spanish and English by this well-known anthropologist. It's one of the better books I know that was written by someone reaching out past a discipline where she had already had significant recognition. Below is a short column I did on it

https://annarborobserver.com/articles...