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Rishma Dunlop
October 19, 1956 - April 17, 2016
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<div itemprop="description">Rishma Dunlop, <br /> Ph.D., F.R.S.C. <br /> (October 19, 1956 &ndash;April 17, 2016) <br /> <br /> It&rsquo;s been a long time since I slept <br /> in the tenderness of someone&rsquo;s breath <br /> -- Lover Through Departure <br /> <br />Rishma died peacefully on Sunday evening, April 17th, at home in the arms of her beloved husband, David Sobelman. Her last words were, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m falling, David, falling inside,&rdquo; as she fell into the world to come. <br /> <br />She shall be missed deeply by her daughters, Cara and Rachel Dunlop; her mother, Mrs. Nini Singh; her sisters, Dr Sonia Singh and Amrita Singh; her nephew Darius and niece Celina; her uncle Suman and aunty Lena; as well as her many colleagues and friends. Her father, Katar Singh, predeceased her. <br /> <br />Rishma was born in Poona, India. Her parents emigrated to Canada when she was one-year old. She grew up in Beaconsfield, Montreal. <br /> <br />She became a Professor of Creative Writing at York University, as well as a devoted poet. Over the years, five volumes of her poetry were published, including the acclaimed &ldquo;Reading Like a Girl&rdquo; and her most recent collection, &ldquo;Lover Through Departure.&rdquo; She also edited the anthology &ldquo;White Ink: Poems on Mother and Motherhood,&rdquo; and co-edited the seminal &ldquo;Red Silk: An Anthology of South Asian Women Poets.&rdquo; <br /> <br />Up to her last surgery in December, Rishma worked on two writing projects, &ldquo;Love and Cancer in the Candy Factory,&rdquo; her memoir, and &ldquo;Dangerous Words: the Poetry of Witness,&rdquo; an exploration of the subversive role poets play during the transitional-justice stage of any Truth and Reconciliation Commission. <br /> <br />Inside her husband&rsquo;s wedding ring, Rishma had inscribed to &ldquo;my bashert,&rdquo; meaning to &ldquo;my destiny&rdquo; in Yiddish. And it was our destiny to live life passionately, together with the metastatic cancer she had to endure for the last four years. <br /> <br />Rishma&rsquo;s natural kindness, and her desire for beauty, style and elegance, moved all who knew her. One of her favorite Saturday afternoon rituals was to stop at Avenue and Davenport and pull together a colorful bouquet of fresh Esperanza roses. &ldquo;Flowers of hope,&rdquo; as she used to call them. In that spirit, let us lift up our eyes and pray that our beloved Rishma is resting peacefully in a field of blossoming Esperanzas. <br /> <br />A memorial will be held at Mount Pleasant Funeral Home, 375 Mount Pleasant Road (east gate entrance), Toronto on Wednesday, April 27th, at 6:00 p.m. Visitation from 5 p.m., and the gathering shall continue to 8 p.m. <br /> <br /></div>