Monday
Social media has been passing around this poem by Ukrainian-American poet Ilya Kaminsky. It is not, as first appears, a criticism of the west for refraining from direct involvement in Ukraine’s war. In fact, the poem appears to be set in America, not Ukraine.
Nevertheless, the question of whether Americans could do more to stop oppression is always a good one. We are, at least, imposing sanctions on Russia that have some bite to them—and since those sanctions could have some impact our own lives, the very least Americans could do is stop complaining about rising gas prices. We could also stop making apocalyptic statements about minor matters. A vaccination mandate is not Holocaust-level oppression. The Russians invading your country is real oppression.
We Lived Happily During the War
By Ilya Kaminsky
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 Americawas 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 moneyin 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.
