Poetry | We lived happily during the war by Ilya Kaminsky

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We Lived Happily During the War
by Ilya Kaminsky

Ilya Kaminsky was raised in Odessa, Ukraine. At age four, he lost most of his hearing after a misdiagnosis. His book, Deaf Republic (Graywolf Press, 2019), was the winner of the Anisfield-Wolf and LA Times Book Awards. He holds the Margaret T. and Henry C. Bourne Jr. Chair in Poetry and directs the Poetry@Tech Program at Georgia Tech

And when they bombed other people’s houses, we

protested
but not enough, we opposed them but not

enough. I was
in my bed, around my bed America

was falling: invisible house by invisible house by invisible house.

I took a chair outside and watched the sun.

In the sixth month
of a disastrous reign in the house of money

in the street of money in the city of money in the country of money,
our great country of money, we (forgive us)

lived happily during the war.