We Lived Happily During the War

As poet, essayist, and translator, Kaminsky is a lover of words and their root relationships. Etymologically, house or home takes on a larger meaning. Further, ecology—the study of relationships between living organisms—comes from the Greek word for home (eco). In this sense, the way a person keeps their house can reflect the way they want the world to be. Inversely, the world can be the macro dimension of a terrestrial house. Kaminsky carefully chooses the context for these words to unlock their potential and offer varied dimensions of reality.

In “We Lived Happily During the War,” Kaminsky’s diction is whittled down to its most human, elemental core: the desire for a house, and the longing for shelter and joy. The decision to also utilize the more archaic meaning of the word house (“disastrous reign in the house of money” (Line 9)) speaks to the nation as a kind of home. But it also shows that this house can be ruled by forces like money and its power to distance people from others. In this way, the home becomes a symbol for the human desire for safety in a shared global reality.