Ilya Kaminsky’s poems are sometimes deliriously happy and sometimes full of horror, but they are always immense in their ideas and their reach. Kaminsky’s verse spans continents and centuries, and feels like it belongs to Russian immigrant dreamers, American tourists and the millions who perished in the Holocaust and Stalin’s purges, all at once.

It’s no wonder that many longtime poetry readers are excited about this young writer. When Kaminsky read in Iowa City recently, the home of the famous International Writing Program, audience members who had never heard him before were moved, and also obviously stunned by the voice of this new poet.

Kaminsky became deaf at the age of four. He hands out copies of his book to the audience so they can follow along more easily. When asked a question, he looks closely at the asker’s lips so he can read them. Another source of surprise is that English is very much his second language; he came to America only a few years ago, without knowing a word of it. He taught himself English through poetry, and who began writing as a way to comfort himself after the death of a loved one.

“To defy death was what made me write in English,” he says.

In conversation, Kaminsky is anything but death-obsessed, though. He loves to discuss art and life. Over and over, in his references to ancient poets and contemporary ones, Kaminsky comes back to the topic of happiness.

“I don’t think it’s a poet’s job to witness only tragedy,” he says. “I think it’s a poet’s job to witness joy in the world, no matter how much tragedy also exists.”

Winner of the 2002 Tupelo Press Dorset Prize, this rising star from Odessa has already received the Ruth Lilly fellowship from Poetry magazine, and was the youngest person appointed Writer in Residence at Phillips Exeter Academy.

Kaminsky’s newest and much-acclaimed book of poems is titled, “Dancing in Odessa” and reflects on some of the people, writers, books, and memories from his childhood.

Published On: 30 Nisan 5770 (30 Nisan 5770 (April 14, 2010))