33 of 36 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
a beautiful document of a life..., May 11, 2004
This review is from: Dancing in Odessa (Perfect Paperback)
Reviewed by Small Spiral Notebook:
It was in 1993 that the family of poet/lawyer Ilya Kaminsky received asylum as political refugees. Kaminsky has never returned to the "city of his childhood" because the country he left exists only in his imagination. Still, he has documented that life and its memories in his first full-length book, "Dancing In Odessa."
Winner of the 2002 Dorset Prize from Tupelo Press, "Dancing In Odessa" is a joyous achievement. Passionate. Compassionate. Daring in its use of imaginative language. Though the work, written in English, has a deep feeling for a life lived in another country, the words transcend to one universal.
The book opens with "Author's Prayer," a work that sets the tone for the work.
I will praise your madness, and
in a language not mine, speak
of music that wakes us, music
in which we move. For whatever I say
is a kind of petition, and the darkest
days must I praise.
Continuing to speak, the importance of words and language, is predominant in Kaminsky's poems. Perhaps that can be contributed to his early life in the Soviet Union; among other things, his grandfather killed and his grandmother exiled to Siberia. Kaminsky has stated that "family narrative" is not his "thing;" his goal is one of "imaginary memoir," of being a storyteller and so he writes.
In Praise of Laughter," he mentions the need for continuance:
all our words, heaps of burning feathers
that rise and rise with each retelling.
And in the title poem:
I retell the story the light etches
Into my hand: Little book, go to the city
without me.
One section of the book, Musica Humana, is an elegy for Osip Mandelstam, a Russian poet who dared to criticize Joseph Stalin in his work. Mandelstam was imprisoned and exiled. The poems are simply delicious in their use of language and imagery.
Once or twice in his life, a man
is peeled like apples.
What's left is a voice
that splits his being
down to the center.
We see: obscenity, fright mud
and
He believed in the human being. Could not
cure himself
of Petersburg. He cited by heart
phone numbers
of the dead.
"Dancing In Odessa" is a collection of poetry that excited me. Not only due to Kaminsky's use of the English language, but for the truths he shares. In the section "Praise," he speaks of his family's leaving Odessa.
This is how we live on earth, Kaminsky writes. "A flock of sparrows./the darkness, a magician, finds quarters/behind our ears. We don't know what life is,/who makes it, the reality is thick/with longing. We put it up to our lips/and drink."
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18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Passionate, full of humor and tragedy, September 20, 2004
This review is from: Dancing in Odessa (Perfect Paperback)
This book was like a blow to the head - thunderously moving, intensely tragic, uplifting, and comic by turns. The way the author weaves his poems together in the book is inspiring - a turn of phrase or image recurs in a way that seems totally natural, as in musical phrases. His love poetry to "Natalia" is everything love poetry should be. A pleasure to read - and the book is even more amazing considering the writer is so young and that English is not his first language. Also, unlike so many modern poets, though Kaminsky's poetry often deals with horrific events, the overall movement of the book is optimistic, even dare I say the work uplifting.
Applause, applause.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Powerful voice and persistent energy!, March 25, 2005
This review is from: Dancing in Odessa (Perfect Paperback)
I had the pleasure of hearing Ilya Kaminsky read his poetry from Dancing in Odessa the other day at my college. He came into the room and seemed a bit shy at first. Uncertain as to "what to do" he began to read from his book. A powerful and lyrical voice filled the room and everyone was glued to her/his seat listening. He not only writes wonderful, thought-provoking and dazzling poems but he reads with an energy unsurpassed. He uses his voice in incredible ways, incredible ranges and he employs his whole body in the experience. One gets the sense she is witness to something profound and passionate, spellbinding. Kaminsky's voice is strange, beautiful and musical.
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