Ilya Kaminsky Recites In Solidarity With Artsakh
Watch Ilya Kaminsky, named by the BBC as one of the 12 artists who changed the world, recite his poem “We Lived Happily During the War” in solidarity with Armenians as Azerbaijan shells Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh).
“Hello, my name is Ilya Kaminsky, and I would like to stand in solidarity with Armenian poets and Armenian people in response to the horror that is happening right now. And I would like to read a poem that is not just a response to horror but also in response to horror and complicity that surrounds it. The poem is called “We Lived Happily During the War”.” [Source: Poetry International website. Copyright © 2013 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 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.