Book set in Odesa, Ukraine. Reviewed on 2022/06: https://www.instagram.com/p/CfSXJwzvlWu/
If I speak for the dead, I must leave
this animal of my body,
I must write the same poem over and over,
for an empty page is the white flag of their surrender.
If I speak for 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 walked us, music
in which we move. For whatever I say
is a kind of petition, and the darkest
days must I praise.
#dancinginodessa #ilyakaminsky #tupelopress #odesa #tupelopressdorsetprize #ukrainethroughbooks #ІлляКамінський #jewishpoetry
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