Deaf Republic — Ilya Kaminsky
Book Reflection : On how being deaf is a form of opposition and defense.
Lately, I spend quite a lot of time reading poem. And there are several types of poetry books that I like, one of which is a narative poem. It is a collection of a piece of the story, told in the verses of poem, then it connected one another. So it ended up as a long story, just like a novel but in poem. It was the dissatisfaction with the single-standing poem that made me like the type of poetry that was blended and continued to connect. Deaf Republic is the one them.
Which if I speak, this book is a hundred percent amazing piece of art!
There have been many reviews about Deaf Republic, which mostly speaks about how deep and good Ilya Kaminsky’s poems are. But if I am being honest, it’s just too hard to undestand, confusing, enigmatic, incomprehensible, mystifying, perplexing, unfathomable, you named it.
Even some of my friends which been encouraged to read this book of poems, ended up frown. They even stammered while reading some reviews about the book. Some speak about mythical methods, some attributed to the expertise of James Joyes, T. S. Elliot and all the incomprehensible ins and outs (which I don’t know either).
So if I may, I’ll write only the easy-to-understand review, a bit preface about why this book is jarring to read.
Deaf Republic is composed of 60 poems. A short poem, A long-list poem, A full front page poem, A only-a-sentence poem. Some are firm, some are vague. Some are stressful, some sorrowful.
The poems tells the story of the fictional state of Vasenska, a country where government as the ultimate power of the country and the people live on oppressive authoritarian powers. The poems in Deaf Republic are contemporary poems that feel closely related to the life of its own author, Kaminsky. In his lifetime, the doctor’s misdiagnosis made Kaminsky deaf from such a young age.[1]
Through his poetry, Kaminsky gives us the sight that deafness is a form of rebellion against government. A indifferent form about everything the government says through its accomplices, the soldiers. The incident blindly attacked government soldiers. The soldiers shouting and the actions of citizens who pretended to be deaf were described in verses of straightforward poetry and anarchy. The words of “pretends to be deaf” described as an affirmation that citizens are not deaf, but have chosen to be deaf. Which he considers a shared force. Silence that is not silence-if citing Brewbaker’s review (2019).
Different points of view presented in several chapters helps us to see from different perspective of what happened in Vasenska. The first half contains 36 perspective poems from husband and wife Sonya and Alfonso Barabinsky, while in the final round consists of 21 poems from the perspective of the towns and vasenska’s elderly woman, Mamma Galya Armolinskaya. [2]
For most people, they end up crying after reading these poems. Me? Almost actually, but for me personally it felt quite painful to see how the act of pretending to be deaf was the beginning of victory for the people of Vasenska. But as well as being the chasm of death for them. On some occasions, deafness is not always presented as a form of helpful resistance. As in one poem entitled A Dog Sniff, when Alfonso -one of the POV- was sentenced to death by the Vasenska soldiers. Residents chose to remain silent and pretended to be deaf and hid behind the curtains of their homes. Fear may they be led and sentenced to.
A Dog Sniff
Morning.
In a bombed-out street, wind moves the lips of a politician on a poster. Inside, the child Sonya named Anushka suckles. Not sleeping, Alfonso touches his wife’s nipple, pulls to his lips a pearl of milk.Evening.
As Alfonso steps onto Tedna Street in search of bread, the wind brittles his body. Four jeeps pull onto the curb: Sonya is stolen into a jeep as Anushka cries, left behind as the convoy rattles away. The neighbors peek from behind curtains. Silence like a dog sniffs the windowpanes between us.
Nevertheless, this book is not intended to insinuate any country. Vasenska is just a fictitious name. Although some people have mentioned one or two names of the country that Kaminsky intended. But for me, it doesn’t really matter. Furthermore, I saw and felt these poems are more about how such arbitrary power took many lives. And in the resistance that has happened so much, some choose not to listen and pretend to be “deaf” as a form of resistance.
In a nutshell, I suggest you to read it!!
References :
[1]Cited from La Review of Book, By Will Brewbaker (2019) Silence That is Not Silence: On Ilya Kaminsky’s Deaf Republic (https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/silence-that-is-not-silence-on-ilya-kaminskys-deaf-republic/)
[2]Cited from Atmazona, by Atma D.(2019) Menjadi Tuli adalah Perlawanan: Deaf Republic karya Ilya Kaminsky (https://atmazona.com/category/ulasanbuku)
