"We lived, yes, don't say it was a dream"

I have spent most of the morning delighting in the poet Ilya Kaminsky. How can I even begin to explain my gratitude for the rarity of rapture in the am hours?

I delight in this:

"..on certain afternoons

the Republic of Psalms opens up

and I grow frightened that I haven't lived, died, not enough

to scratch this ecstasy into vowels.."

and this:

"....And we speak of everything

that does not come true,

which is to say, it was August.

August! The light in the trees full of fury, August

filling hands with language that tastes like smoke."

and even this:

"I am reading aloud the book of my life on earth

and confess: I loved grapefruit."

(All excerpts from Musica Humana. Blog title from Dancing in Odessa)

Kaminsky will be reading at Brown on Thursday, November 5 at 2:30pm at the McCormack Family Theater, as part of the ongoing Literary Arts speaker's program.

- Jessica