Deaf
Republic, the new collection of poetry by Ilya Kaminsky, is striking on at least
two counts, and possibly a third.
First,
it is a story, a narrative “in two acts,” that uses the poetic form. The 59
poems are a collective whole, tightly connected to the point where it’s
difficult to imagine any of them apart from their fellow poems. The poems work
like a narrative thread, weaving together people and events into a coherent
whole. The narrative’s two acts read almost like a play, and to emphasize that
connection the work includes a
The second striking feature is what the story is about
– a time of trouble in an occupied country, set in the town of Vasenka. The
occupation might be from the political left or the political right; the
orientation is not important. The occupying soldiers are present; the people
are feeling a kind of suffocation. Freedom and citizens’ rights are no longer functioning
words and ideas. A command is given; all the people obey, except for a child, a
boy who is deaf.
To continue reading, please see my post today at Tweetspeak Poetry.
