Town Watches Them Take Alfonso by Ilya Kaminsky

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend January 6, 2017   Town Watches Them Take Alfonso   Ilya Kaminsky

Now each of us is a witness stand:   Vasenka watches us watch four soldiers throw Alfonso Barabinski on          the sidewalk. We let them take him, all of us cowards.   What we don't say we carry in our suitcases, coat pockets, our nostrils.   Across the street they wash him with fire hoses. First he screams, then he stops.   So much sunlight— a t-shirt falls off a clothes line and an old man stops, picks it up,                    presses it to his face.   Neighbors line up to watch him thrown on a sidewalk like a vaudeville            act: Ta Da. In so much sunlight—   how each of us is a witness stand:   They take Alfonso And no one stands up. Our silence stands up for us.                    Copyright © 2017 Ilya Kaminsky. Used with permission of the author. About This Poem   "This poem is from a book-length manuscript, 'Deaf Republic.' This is a story of a pregnant woman and her husband living during a time of civil unrest." —Ilya Kaminsky   Ilya Kaminsky is the author of Dancing in Odessa (Tupelo Press, 2004). Originally from Ukraine, he lives in California.   Photo credit: Brian Palmer   Poetry by Kaminsky   Dancing in Odessa (Tupelo Press, 2004) "In Memory of M. B." by Anna Akhmatova "Poems for Blok, 1" by Marina Tsvetaeva "Artificer" by Czeslaw Milosz Poem-a-Day   Launched during National Poetry Month in 2006, Poem-a-Day features new and previously unpublished poems by contemporary poets on weekdays and classic poems on weekends. 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.   You are receiving this e-mail because you elected to subscribe to our mailing list. If you would like to unsubscribe, please click here.   © Academy of American Poets 75 Maiden Lane, Suite 901, New York, NY 10038