Table of Contents
We Lived Happily during the War 3
Deaf Republic 5
Dramatis Personae 7
Act 1 The Townspeople Tell the Story of Sonya and Alfonso Gunshot 11
As Soldiers March, Alfonso Covers the Boy's Face with a Newspaper 12
Alfonso, in Snow 13
Deafness, an Insurgency, Begins 14
Alfonso Stands Answerable 15
That Map of Bone and Opened Valves 16
The Townspeople Circle the Boy's Body 17
Of Weddings before the War 18
Still Newlyweds 19
Soldiers Aim at Us 20
Checkpoints 22
Before the War, We Made a Child 23
As Soldiers Choke the Stairwell 24
4 a.m. Bombardment 25
Arrival 26
Lullaby 27
Question 28
While the Child Sleeps, Sonya Undresses 29
A Cigarette 30
A Dog Sniffs 31
What We Cannot Hear 32
Central Square 33
A Widower 34
For His Wife 35
I, This Body 36
Her Dresses 37
Elegy 38
Above Blue Tin Roofs, Deafness 39
A City Like a Guillotine Shivers on Its Way to the Neck 40
In the Bright Sleeve of the Sky 41
To Live 42
The Townspeople Watch Them Take Alfonso 43
Away 44
Eulogy 45
Question 46
Such Is the Story Made of Stubbornness and a Little Air 47
Act 2 The Townspeople Tell the Story of Momma Galya
Townspeople Speak of Galya on Her Green Bicycle 51
When Momma Galya First Protested 52
A Bundle of Laundry 53
What Are Days 54
Galya Whispers, as Anushka Nuzzles 55
Galya's Puppeteers 56
In Bombardment, Galya 57
The Little Bundles 58
Galya's Toast 59
Theater Nights 60
And While Puppeteers Are Arrested 61
Soldiers Don't Like Looking Foolish 62
Search Patrols 63
Lullaby 64
Firing Squad 65
Question 66
Yet, I Am 67
The Trial 68
Pursued by the Men of Vasenka 69
Anonymous 70
And Yet, on Some Nights 71
In a Time of Peace 75