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Exploring the Text
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1. Where does the speaker in “In a Time of Peace” juxtapose images of peace and violence?
What patterns emerge? Explain how these juxtapositions reveal about the speaker’s
understanding of where he lives.
2. The speaker refers to himself as “I” in the poem’s second line but switches to “we” or “us” for
most of the rest of the poem. What is the effect of the change to the plural first person? Why
might he have switched back to first person singular at the end of the poem?
3. Trace the patterns of repetition in “In a Time of Peace.” What words are repeated? What do
Redefining America
the repeated words have in common? What is the effect of the repetition?
4. How do you interpret the figurative language in lines 13–16? What purpose do those lines
serve?
5. What is Kaminsky describing in line 19? How does that image strengthen his message?
6. Consider the line lengths and breaks in “In a Time of Peace.” Try reading it aloud. How does
the variety of line and stanza lengths reflect the speaker’s attitude toward the “peaceful
country” in which he lives?
7. Why do you think the speaker asks for forgiveness in the last line of the poem?
8. Ilya Kaminsky has said that silence is “an invention of the hearing.” He lost his hearing when
he was four years old as a result of a misdiagnosis of mumps. When his family emigrated
from Ukraine to Rochester, New York, Kaminsky got hearing aids and some of his hearing
was restored. Deaf Republic, the collection this poem ends, is about the effects of silence.
How does this poem comment on silence?
9. In an interview, Ilya Kaminsky quoted the Russian poet and Nobel laureate Joseph
Brodsky: “Poetry and politics have only two things in common, letter p and letter o.”
Kaminsky agrees, but he continued, saying “poetry is also the art of attentiveness. . .
I don’t think there is much poetry of attentiveness that isn’t political.” In what ways can
“In a Time of Peace” be considered a “poem of attentiveness”? Explain whether you think
it is a political poem.

Making Connections

1. Compare the imagery in “At Lowe’s Home Improvement Center” to the imagery in “In a Time
of Peace.” How are the images similar? How are they different? Which one speaks more
powerfully to you, and why?
2. How might each of the poems be read as commentary on life in the United States today?
What observations do both poems make? How do they contrast?
3. Compare the speaker in “At Lowe’s Home Improvement Center” to the speaker in “In a Time
of Peace.” How would you characterize each one? Based on your reading of each poem,
what might be similar in their backgrounds and experiences?
4. Both poems depend on the reader understanding references to American life in the present
time. How do references to items such as the “Troy-Bilt Self Propelled Mower” (l. 24) or the
idea that we “watch neighbors open / their phones to watch / a cop demanding a man’s
driver’s license” (ll. 2–3) contribute to the power of each poem’s message?

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