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Ilya Kaminsky
Author profile
born
April 18, 1977
in Odessa, Ukraine
gender
male
genre
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Dancing in Odessa
  4.21 avg rating — 356 ratings
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published
2004
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2 editions
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The Ecco Anthology of International Poetry
by Ilya Kaminsky , Susan Harris, Words Without Borders 4.27 avg rating — 41 ratings
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published
2009
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Musica Humana
 4.75 avg rating — 8 ratings
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published
2002
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Poetry International (15/16)
4.33 avg rating — 3 ratings
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published
2010
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Homage to Celan
by Ilya Kaminsky , G. C. Waldrep  0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings
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On Danse À Odessa
0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings
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published
2010
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My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me: Forty New Fairy Tales
by Kate Bernheimer , Gregory Maguire , Joyelle McSweeney 3.59 avg rating — 896 ratings
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published
2010
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4 editions
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From the Fishouse: An Anthology of Poems That Sing, Rhyme, Resound, Syncopate, Alliterate, and Just Plain Sound Great [With CD (Audio)]
by Camille T. Dungy , Curtis Bauer (Goodreads Author), Brian Turner 4.21 avg rating — 29 ratings
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published
2009
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This Lamentable City
by Polina Barskova, Ilya Kaminsky, Jim Schley (Goodreads Author) 4.33 avg rating — 12 ratings
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If I Were Born in Prague: Poems of Guy Jean
by Guy Jean, Ilya Kaminsky, Katie Farris (Goodreads Author) 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings
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published
2011
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“Author's Prayer
If I speak for the dead, I must
leave this animal of my body,
I must write the same poem over and over
for the empty page is a white flag of their surrender.
If I speak of them, I must walk
on the edge of myself, I must live as a blind man
who runs through the rooms without
touching the furniture.
Yes, I live. I can cross the streets asking "What year
is it?"
I can dance in my sleep and laugh
in front of the mirror.
Even sleep is a prayer, Lord,
I will praise your madness, and
in a language not mine, speak
of music that wakes us, music
in which we move. For whatever I say
is a kind of petition and the darkest days
must I praise.”
― Ilya Kaminsky, Dancing in Odessa
If I speak for the dead, I must
leave this animal of my body,
I must write the same poem over and over
for the empty page is a white flag of their surrender.
If I speak of them, I must walk
on the edge of myself, I must live as a blind man
who runs through the rooms without
touching the furniture.
Yes, I live. I can cross the streets asking "What year
is it?"
I can dance in my sleep and laugh
in front of the mirror.
Even sleep is a prayer, Lord,
I will praise your madness, and
in a language not mine, speak
of music that wakes us, music
in which we move. For whatever I say
is a kind of petition and the darkest days
must I praise.”
― Ilya Kaminsky, Dancing in Odessa
“But in the secret history of anger--one man's silence / lives in the bodies of others.”
― Ilya Kaminsky, Dancing in Odessa
― Ilya Kaminsky, Dancing in Odessa
“One would think of a boy laying
syllables with his tongue
onto a woman’s skin: those are lines
sewn entirely of silence.”
― Ilya Kaminsky, Dancing in Odessa
syllables with his tongue
onto a woman’s skin: those are lines
sewn entirely of silence.”
― Ilya Kaminsky, Dancing in Odessa
Topics Mentioning This Author
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Around the World ...: Ukraine | 2 | 18 | Sep 01, 2011 11:26am | |
| On the Southern L...: Pseudo-Southern Literature | 19 | 42 | May 02, 2012 11:13am |
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