Welcome to Litsy!

I have always meant to read this collection and what better time than when Ukraine is in the news - the poet was born in Odessa, although it was the Soviet Union at the time - and this collection tells the story of a village fighting back. I recommend finding the poet reading his work - he lost most of his hearing at age 4 and that figures into this collection for sure. My favorite is still We Lived Happily During the War.

Thank you @shawnmooney for sharing this beautiful haunting timely allegory. Written in verse by a Ukrainian, it‘s a short fable about a community that goes silent when a deaf boy is shot by soldiers. It‘s powerful and meditative and speaks volumes about the current conflict taking place right now. I know many don‘t know how they can help those in danger but small acts can lead to bigger rebellions. #Pop22 #AnisfieldWolfWinner

Short, but powerful. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This was a TBR recommended book and OH MAN, it grabbed me directly by the heart and wouldn‘t let go. It‘s a poem narrative about an occupied country where a young deaf boy gets shot for no reason by soldiers, and the whole country suddenly goes deaf in response and starts a revolution with sign language and Puppetry. I can‘t even articulate how beautiful this book is.

Is this a poetry collection? A play? A novella in flash? Whatever, it's tender, earthy, terrifying. As the closing poem shows, the world in Deaf Republic is perilously close to our own: we could wake up there tomorrow.
How does he make the individual poems so buoyant when his theme is such a weighty one?

" At the trial of God, we will ask: why did you allow all this?
And the answer will be an echo: why did you allow all this?"

Deaf Republic delivers a captivating and timeless yet urgently necessary message on the power small rebellions have in a country that oftentimes chooses willful (and prideful) ignorance over ethical self-reflection. Through Kaminsky‘s haunting verse, silence reveals itself to be tripartite: the silence of the devoted, the silence of the departed, and the silence of the defiant whose actions speak louder than words. Review: ali-nuri.com #poetry

This is remarkable, I haven't read anything like it before. A play written in verse, it's a startling depiction of the horror of war and tyranny, the power of silence, and the strength and defiance of the human spirit. Beautifully evocative and gloriously coarse in places.

There are some gut punching lines in this book.

Oof.

Next up #BooksAndBooze

Also, very well played, Secret Santa.

Gorgeous poetry collection about language, community, identity and conflict. More like a story in verse, though many of the poems could still stand on their own.

This collection is really a full story told through verse, about silence and complicity. I liked them all, but the open was the real knockout.

Lovely independent bookshop in Hebden Bridge (W. Yorkshire).

Thanks @youneverarrived for the tag! Here are my #top6reads so far for 2019. Deaf Republic and Underland were the only 5⭐️ reads for me this year. Tagging @readordierachel and @mklong - what are your favorites so far in 2019?

A young boy is shot by soldiers and the sound causes the whole town to go deaf. There is a play on the tension of the sudden suspension of sound, making images linger and leaving a lot of filled empty space in a commentary on political terror. My first poetry in a while.

Simply brilliant! This dark fable of a town under siege is a statement on our times. The people of the town become deaf after a soldier shoots a deaf child at a public gathering. The deafness here is purposeful, though, and a statement on how we can remain silent in the face of government atrocities and institutionalized biases. Tragic, yet filled with beauty, this is a powerful book of poetry. 5⭐️

#poemsbeforephones Starting a new poetry collection this morning and right from the first page I‘m impressed. I‘ve heard nothing but rave reviews of this one, so I‘m really looking forward to it. (Sorry for the bad photo. 😕)

I need to find a copy of this! I stumbled across it looking for something else.

Wow...

Next. (Bought this at AWP last week before they sold out.)

About time I try some not-ancient poetry. This was just released this year.