Poem-A-Day: A Toast by Ilya Kaminsky

March 7, 2014 A Toast by Ilya Kaminsky   To your voice, a mysterious virtue,  to the 53 bones of one foot, the four dimensions of breathing,   to pine, redwood, sworn-fern, peppermint,  to hyacinth and bluebell lily,    to the train conductor's donkey on a rope,  to smells of lemons, a boy pissing splendidly against the  trees.    Bless each thing on earth until it sickens,  until each ungovernable heart admits: "I confused myself    and yet I loved--and what I loved  I forgot, what I forgot brought glory to my travels,    to you I traveled as close as I dared, Lord."        Copyright © 2014 by Ilya Kaminsky. Used with permission of the author. About This Poem  "This piece is from the unfinished manuscript Deaf Republic. This story of a pregnant woman and her husband living during an epidemic of deafness and civil unrest was found beneath the floorboards in a house in Eastern Europe. Several versions of the manuscript exist." --Ilya Kaminsky Most Recent Book by Kaminsky Dancing in Odessa (Tupelo Press, 2004)                Poem-A-Day Launched during National Poetry Month in 2006, Poem-A-Day features new and previously unpublished poems by contemporary poets on weekdays and classic poems on weekends. Browse the Poem-A-Day Archive.     Ilya Kaminsky is the author of Dancing in Odessa (Tupelo Press, 2004) and recently coedited The Ecco Anthology of International Poetry (Ecco, 2010). He teaches at San Diego State University.   Related Poems Visiting Pai-an Pavilion by Hsieh Ling-yun A List of Praises by Anne Porter Starfish by Eleanor Lerman  __________________________ Love reading Poem-A-Day? Help support it today.     Thanks for being a part of the Academy of American Poets community. To learn about other programs, including National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day, the annual Poets Forum, and more, visit Poets.org.

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