Thank you so much for reading with such care, and for sharing this anecdote. The way you and your friend unpacked the layered meanings of “peaceful” speaks so deeply to the tension this poem holds. I’m grateful for your presence here and for reminding us that even language can carry its own quiet violence.
I appreciate how this poem presents the question of what it means to be "a peaceful country". A couple days ago my friend and I were having a discussion about what "peaceful" even means. There was a group of people locally that had gathered around an ICE van to keep them from taking away two of our young people from a legal immigration check-in. The police ended up deploying tear gas, shooting some "non-lethal rounds", 30 people were arrested. My friend and I were frustrated that a peaceful protest was met in this fashion. Then you see people online urging that "this wouldn't have happened if the protest had stayed peaceful". My friend made a good point that for some of us, "peaceful" means nonviolent. For some others though, it seems to mean perfectly legal and not inconveniencing any other person or property. To me this poem suggests that the second definition of "peaceful" holds its own violence. Thank you for sharing this beautiful and thought-provoking poem.
I love that you were discussing the nuance of what it means for a nation to be at peace. These discussions are so important- both always and right now. It is hard to have peace when one person's definition contradicts another's.
For most of my life I believed that peace was our common goal. That everyone wanted it. That we were simply working out the details in order to arrive there. But it's precisely because a few people don't want peace that it means the rest of the world can't attain it.
We need more people like you who have these discussions with their friends to make the desire for peace tangible.
You're so welcome. If you ever get a chance to pick up Deaf Republic, I highly recommend it-one of my all-time favorite poetry collections. Ilya Kaminsky's ability to speak to the universal tragedy of war while also weaving a love story through it makes it a masterpiece.
We were asked to interpret a line in another Kaminsky poem during the 30-in-30 poetry month challenge:
https://zenmanship.substack.com/p/alcatraz-and-for-the-birds
Such an interesting analysis of "tower of birds." Thank you so much for sharing!
Thank you so much for reading with such care, and for sharing this anecdote. The way you and your friend unpacked the layered meanings of “peaceful” speaks so deeply to the tension this poem holds. I’m grateful for your presence here and for reminding us that even language can carry its own quiet violence.
I appreciate how this poem presents the question of what it means to be "a peaceful country". A couple days ago my friend and I were having a discussion about what "peaceful" even means. There was a group of people locally that had gathered around an ICE van to keep them from taking away two of our young people from a legal immigration check-in. The police ended up deploying tear gas, shooting some "non-lethal rounds", 30 people were arrested. My friend and I were frustrated that a peaceful protest was met in this fashion. Then you see people online urging that "this wouldn't have happened if the protest had stayed peaceful". My friend made a good point that for some of us, "peaceful" means nonviolent. For some others though, it seems to mean perfectly legal and not inconveniencing any other person or property. To me this poem suggests that the second definition of "peaceful" holds its own violence. Thank you for sharing this beautiful and thought-provoking poem.
I love that you were discussing the nuance of what it means for a nation to be at peace. These discussions are so important- both always and right now. It is hard to have peace when one person's definition contradicts another's.
For most of my life I believed that peace was our common goal. That everyone wanted it. That we were simply working out the details in order to arrive there. But it's precisely because a few people don't want peace that it means the rest of the world can't attain it.
We need more people like you who have these discussions with their friends to make the desire for peace tangible.
Thank you for posting this. So fitting for today unfortunately.
Yes, timeless and timely all at once.
This isn't a poem I had come across, so thank you for introducing it to me.
You're so welcome. If you ever get a chance to pick up Deaf Republic, I highly recommend it-one of my all-time favorite poetry collections. Ilya Kaminsky's ability to speak to the universal tragedy of war while also weaving a love story through it makes it a masterpiece.
I’ve always really loved this poem. Thank you for reminding me of it.
You're so welcome. Thank you for reading!