“our great country of money, we (forgive us)”
We Lived Happily During The War - Ilya Kaminsky | La Croix - Cran-Raspberry
The Poem
We Lived Happily During The War - Ilya Kaminsky
And when they bombed other people’s houses, we
protested
but not enough, we opposed them but not
enough. I was
in my bed, around my bed America
was falling: invisible house by invisible house by invisible house.
I took a chair outside and watched the sun.
In the sixth month
of a disastrous reign in the house of money
in the street of money in the city of money in the country of money,
our great country of money, we (forgive us)
lived happily during the war.
The Beverage
La Croix - Cran-Raspberry
La Croix. It’s very trendy right now, but here in the midwest, it has always been the drink of moms. In my childhood, it first came in glass bottles, in three flavors -- lime, lemon, and plain. Later, the cans showed up in the fridge. It was always stocked in my mom’s college roommate’s house, even though she doesn’t have kids. She still fell into the category of “moms” in my brain.
There are so many fancy flavors now! The Curate cans! Apricot! Mango! Passion Fruit! Tangerine! Pamplemousse! (Why is only pamplemousse in French? We may never know.) But the flavor currently in my house is Cran-Raspberry, one that straddles the flavor divide between the basic choices of the 90s with the hip, fun flavors subtly taking over your Instagram feed. Two Wisconsin fruits, together, tasting a little like metal.
Did you know that Wisconsin is the largest exporter of cranberries in the country? Try a Cran-Raspberry La Croix. Celebrate Wisconsin’s favorite things.
Note: even the La Croix website confirms the Upper Midwest bastardization of French. On the topic of pronunciation, the brand states: “La-CROY. It rhymes with ‘enjoy’.”