For the past few days I've been working on my Honors Option, creating a multicultural poetry anthology. The anthology is supposed to include insider poets from minority groups that are often absent or underrepresented in children's and adolescent literature. I easily made my text selections based on references found in our course readings and class discussions. Overall, I'm just about done with the project, but I still feel like my anthology is missing representation from a culture that I have a special interest in--Deaf culture.
Most Deaf poets compose their work in American Sign Language, or ASL. There is no written component of ASL, so poetry in this language must either be enjoyed in person or through video. I considered including links to online videos in my anthology, but I felt like posting a blog would be a more appropriate venue for sharing such information. Even if you don't know sign language, experiencing ASL poetry by Deaf poets is a sight to behold. Anyone can recognize the passion and sometimes even humor infused in this unique form of poetry simply watching the poet perform their personal work.
One well known Deaf poet is Peter Cook. The following link will take you to the Flying Words Project website which was a project lead by Peter Cook and his hearing cohort, Kenny Lerner. The two worked together to promote the growing field of ASL performance, including poetry.
http://web.mac.com/peterscook1/Site/Flying_Words_Project.html
Take some time to explore the website especially link to Excerpts from FWP Performance.
Other well known Deaf poets include Clayton Valli and Ella Mae Lentz. The following link will take you to a youtube video of Clayton Valli reciting his poem, Dandelions in ASL.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=GmhbuGZJyJA
Some people consider number or alphabet stories to be a form of ASL poetry. A story is signed using the number or alphabet handshapes in numerical or alphabetical order. In these stories, the various handshapes do not represent the number or letter themselves. Number or alphabet stories are usually fun and capture a tradition within Deaf culture. The following link will take you to a youtube video featuring a number story.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=SZGj-mMEjrs&feature=related
I hope you take a moment to explore this rich form of poetry and expose yourself to Deaf poets.
2 comments:
I am glad you included Deaf poetry in your blog! Even though ASL and Deaf culture has received more publicity over the years, still I am so surprised also how little exposure ASL receives from literacy circles, especially in multicultural literacy. I have seen ASL poetry done by Deaf people and am really moved by the visual language portrayed. It is rich in Deaf culture and history. Many of the online poems are captioned for hearing people as well.
I feel bad saying it, but I had never really heard abut deaf poetry before. This strikes me as odd, because I took TE 491 last semester, and I would think that they would have included something of the sort in the class, at least mention it. I watched the two links that you had for the youtube videos. Even though there was not sound, or subtitles (there were numbers) I could not understand what the poet was saying, but the emotion that they brought forward was intense. You could imagine what they were talking about while they signed. Not just their hands moved, but their body, and their facial expressions. I think that it would be extremely interesting t see a deaf poet live. I think that we need to be better educated about the deaf culture. It is not something that is talked about very often, and I think that it is quite underrepresented. I'm glad that you brought this to the class's attention because otherwise, I would have never known about it.
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