Author's Prayer Poetry Out Loud
By Ilya Kaminsky
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 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, "Author's Prayer" from Dancing in Odessa. Copyright © 2004 by Ilya Kaminsky. Reprinted by permission of Tupelo Press.
Source: Dancing in Odessa (Tupelo Press, 2004)
- Arts & Sciences
- Living
- Nature
Poet Bio
Ilya Kaminsky was born in Odessa, former USSR, and came to the US in 1993. He is the author of Dancing in Odessa (Tupelo Press, 2004) and currently teaches poetry and comparative literature at San Diego State University. See More By This Poet
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I am a door of metaphor
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Simply step over the threshold.
Remember to dress for travel, though.
Visitors have been known
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I know this is a real thing, because
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E bends e old body down, turns
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There's a bleat in my throat. Words fail me here. Can you understand? I...
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I want to put down what the mountain has awakened.
My mouthful of grass.
My curious tale. I want to stand still but find myself moved patch by patch.
There's a bleat in my throat. Words fail me here. Can you understand? I...
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- Living
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Whenever you see a tree
Think
how many long years
this tree waited as a seed
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Author's Prayer Poetry Out Loud
Source: https://www.poetryoutloud.org/poem/authors-prayer/
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