we lived happily during the war - ilya kaminsky

• 'happily during the war'


  unusual and ambiguous adverb, although it could be true as it brings people together
• 'they, we'


  them vs us pronouns emphasises the war mentality
• 'and'


  starts with a connective which implies it has been happening for a while, he has been too scared to write about it
• 'but not enough' x 2


  the repetition is realising he was too passive during the war
• 'around my bed america was falling'


  bed is meant to be a safe haven but the change to present tense implies it is his death bed
• 'invisible house by invisible house -'


  conveys that nobody pays attention to the civilians during war, the listing and hyphen implies it may be yours
• 'i took a chair outside and watched the sun'


  metaphor which implies blissful ignorance, watching the sun makes you go blind to suffering

  sun also is a metaphor for bombs and fires
• 'in the sixth month'


  the point he started to care
• 'of money' x 5


  direct criticism towards the bigoted capitalist climate
• 'we (forgive us)'


  reference to the lord's prayer, the sins being their ignorance and selfishness

  parenthesis conveys how the apology isn't sincere
• the poem is written in free verse and enjambment to mimic how spoken word incites people to take action
• the poem uses caesuras to make us feel uncomfortable and guilty