Poet Ilya Kaminsky was born in Odessa, a city in the former Soviet Union. His family sought asylum in the United States in 1993 and settled in New York. 

Alongside Paloma Capanna, he co-founded Poets for Peace, an organization that hosts poetry readings worldwide to support relief efforts. 

Kaminsky’s poetry spans different eras and voices, capturing the core of human experience: love, grief, joy, and laughter. His books include "Dancing in Odessa," "Traveling Musicians," and "Deaf Republic." 

Here, I’m sharing one of her poems titled “We lived happily during the war.”

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.