A Cappella

Collage Music (This is a description of the praise songs from my old church.)

Everyone sings in their own way:

some sing softly to themselves,

others sing loudly to the world,

some sign in another language,

some sing in their heads,

some sing their own notes,

each one expressing themselves

the way they can best.

The Eye Poem

blue eyes, green eyes, grey eyes,

bright eyes, large startled eyes,

eyes hiding from the world,

under their thick wrinkled blankets.

smiling eyes, soft flirty eyes,

innocent eyes with large pupils,

wide eyes moving about constantly,

red wet eyes angled downward eyes,

squinted eyes, crossed eyes,

eyes half covering themselves for sleep,

eyes meeting other eyes

on the street or in the store,

then separating again
or holding each other forever.

--inspired by “The Cookie Poem” by Jeff Gundy

(Not meant to be as snotty as it ends up sounding.)

Inspired by How to Write a New Mennonite Poem by Jeff Gundy

More Notes on How to Write a New Mennonite Poem

“Grandmothers are very good, especially

dead grandmothers”

essentially anything which is about

decline or hardship is a good place to start.

the poem must have

an over-all feeling of gloom

or it is too secular.

even if you do not write specifically about

one must allude to death in some way

during the course of the poem.

Patrick Graybill Biography

Rhiannon Jones

Ann E. Hostetler

English 210

February 7, 2011

Patrick Graybill[R1] 

            Patrick Graybill, whose poems are collected on the DVD “Poetry in Motion: Patrick Graybill” created in 1989, is a Deaf[1] storyteller, poet, religious leader, and translator.  He has many occupations within the Deaf community, many of which included the making of media relating to American Sign Language performance.  He has greatly influenced generations of American Sign Language performers.

Childhood

Patrick Graybill grew up in Kansas and went to the Kansas School for the Deaf (“Patrick Graybill”). Like 90% of deaf children, his parents were hearing but he also grew up with six siblings, four of whom were Deaf.  Like ninety-percent of deaf children, his parents were both hearing (Poetry in Motion).  He said that he was lucky that he had older siblings who were Deaf, since that meant that he grew up knowing how to sign and having an advantage over the other Deaf children who had hearing parents.  He, unlike many of the other children of hearing parents was able to communicate with the children who did know how to sign (Graybill). 

While Graybill was at the Kansas School for the Deaf, he became interested in literature and performance in American Sign Language.  In a video titled The World According to Pat, he describe his life at the residential schools for the Deaf.   Major themes in this work are stories about the overly consistent schedule to their day, the classes which were taught through the oral method, the stories of the most memorable students from his classes, quirky traditions in the schools,  interactions among Deaf residential schools when they met for sports competitions and dances, the cherished interactions which the Deaf students had with the Deaf faculty members (of which there was allowed to be no more than 33%), and particularly his fond memories of the storytelling which took place (Graybill).

The Kansas School for the Deaf was an oral school, and the students were expected to speak English. At his school the students were not permitted to sign.  If a teacher caught a student signing, they would be required to wear mittens which were tied together, so that the student would not be able to sign (“Through Deaf Eyes”).  Many Deaf schools used speech-centered curricula.  According to Moore and Levitan, writers of books studying Deaf culture, most culturally Deaf individuals do believe in the utility of speech training, many Deaf people have had bad experiences with speech training, for a multitude of reasons.  Sometimes impatience on the part of the speech teachers was detrimental, and frustrations with the intense and sometimes abusive situations in that environment, and a degrading view of sign language in the setting of speech therapy, made for unpleasant associations (Moore, and Levitan 198, 160).  This feeling is expressed in one of the poems by Patrick Graybill (Poetry in Motion).

One significant point which is made in the film The World According to Pat is the importance of American Sign Language to the students at the Deaf schools.  During the movie, Graybill does not discuss English very heavily.  He talks primarily about the interactions which took place in American Sign Language.  He says that even though the students were forbidden to sign during class and required to speak, they continued to sign when the teacher wasn't looking.  The people who made the strongest impact on him as a child were the Deaf faculty at the school and literary artists.

The experience Graybill had in learning from the skilled Deaf signers at Kansas School for the Deaf were undoubtedly essential in encouraging his interest in the performance arts.
Two of his Deaf teachers were particularly memorable to him.  One of them, Miss Kellogg, used to sign "Yankee Doodle Dandy" to them.  He says that he remembers her translation of the story so well that he could recite it, and proceeds to do so.  The recitation is very different from the song with which most people are familiar.  It contains the same meaning, but there is a great amount more visual information, and visual representations.  There is a large amount of detail given to the appearance of the characters in the song.  Another Deaf faculty member from his school, who was named Miss Samuels was an awesome signer.  She had worked out an arrangement of the translation of "The Star Spangled Banner," and had, in 1944, been the subject of an interview with Life Magazine.  She had appeared on the cover, signing the "The Star Spangled Banner."  During his days at the school, Patrick Graybill also memorized her performance of "The Star Spangled Banner." Another story which that teacher, Miss Samuels performed for the students was a translation of the work "The Black Cat" by Edgar Allen Poe (Graybill). It seems very likely that this incident is part of what inspired him to translate and record "The Black Cat" professionally, along with a couple of other works by Edgar Allen Poe (Naturale).

In school Graybill loved the Literary Societies, which periodically performed something like the news, a translated (into ASL) skit, or a work which the students had written.  These programs were generally set up by former students of Gallaudet University where there was a group called Bullard's Society.  He concludes the film with a translation of a poem by Langston Hughes, relating it to Deaf culture by saying that like the intended audience of Langston Hughes, the Deaf community needs to hold onto its dreams and fight to keep the residential schools for the Deaf open and functioning, in order to preserve the way of life of Deaf people, and the invaluable source of communication accessible to the Deaf students who attend Deaf residential schools (Graybill). 

Many times in his poetry he alludes to his experiences at the Kansas school for the Deaf.  Such times are when he mimes of having his wrists caught together by the string of the mittens in his poem "Liberation," and when he talks about the drive to the school in one of his haikus collected under the title "Memories."

Higher Education and Professional Career 

After graduating from the Kansas School for the Deaf, Graybill went to Gallaudet College, which is now Gallaudet University, and he earned a Bachelor's degree in English and a Master's degree in Education (“Patrick Graybill”). 

For a while Graybill worked at Kendall Demonstration Elementary school (“Patrick Graybill).  This is a school for the Deaf which has programs starting for infants.  This school is connected to the Clerc center, a facility dedicated to researching the best methods for the education of deaf and hard-of-hearing children, and distributing that information.  While he was working at Kendall Demonstration Elementary school he started working with the Deaf drama productions in the DC area (“Patrick Graybill”).

Patrick Graybill made many works in ASL which were translations of well-known English works including the works of Edgar Allen Poe, and Sherlock Holmes (Vicars and Naturale). At one point, Patrick was a professor at Gallaudet University (“Patrick Graybill”). He later studied at the Catholic University of America's seminary school (“Patrick Graybill”).  He began to study for a degree in Theology from Catholic University of America.   He would later come back to his studies and become a Deacon (“RSD Warmly Welcomes Patrick Graybill”).    

In 1969, Patrick Graybill began to work with the National Theater of the Deaf (“Patrick Graybill,” “RSD Warmly Welcomes Patrick Graybill”). In 1978, while Patrick Graybill was still involved, the National Theater for the Deaf won a Tony Award (“RSD Warmly Welcomes Patrick Graybill”). The cast of the National Theater for the Deaf created an original work called "My Third Eye," which was written about the experiences of the cast members, for a Deaf audience (“Through Deaf Eyes”).

In 1980, Patrick Graybill, along with other famous American Sign Language performers, was invited to perform at a symposium called "Evening in ASL" in Boston (Lindgren, DeLuca, and Napoli, 158).

The year after the National Theater of the Deaf won the Tony award Patrick Graybill began to work for the National Technical Institute for the Deaf.  He became a consultant to the National Technical Institute for the Deaf Performing Arts Program (“RSD Warmly Welcomes Patrick Graybill”).  He also taught at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (“Patrick Graybill”).  In 1984, Patrick Graybill met Alan Ginsberg (a beat poet) at a workshop which was focused on poetry in the Deaf community.  Patrick Graybill translated "Howl" which was written by Ginsberg.  This event is credited with an increase in the field of American Sign Language poetry.  After this encounter, Patrick Graybill began to write his own poetry in ASL (Vicars). 

When working for the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, which is a college of the Rochester Institute for the Deaf, he serves as the director of the theater department, and a teacher (“RSD Warmly Welcomes Patrick Graybill”).

Patrick Graybill then completed his theology studies at St. Bernard's Seminary and Institute in Rochester, and in the year 1986 became a Deacon (“RSD Warmly Welcomes Patrick Graybill”). He held that position at Rochester’s Emmanuel Church of the Deaf for quite some time (“Patrick Graybill”).  In 1989, his collection of poetry was published along with those of Debbie Rennie, and Clayton Valli in the series Poetry in Motion (Poetry in Motion). [R2] 

During the 2009-2010 school year, Patrick Graybill he worked at the Rochester School for the Deaf.  His purpose was to teach the students at the Rochester School for the Deaf, how to better their skills in public speaking, acting, and storytelling. At the same time, he was helping to create a compilation of stories in ASL for the students of Rochester School for the Deaf, for their RSD reads program (“RSD Warmly Welcomes Patrick Graybill”).

Today

Patrick Graybill is now retired, but remains actively involved in the church, and Deaf community (“RSD Warmly Welcomes Patrick Graybill”).  Awards which is has received include, the Doctor of Humane Letter, and the Lyon Founders Award, which celebrate his contributions to the education of Deaf students (“RSD Warmly Welcomes Patrick Graybill”).  He has been an inspiration to countless Deaf students, and other American Sign Language performers, such as Peter Cook and Debbie Rennie, who in turn inspire other artists and linguists (Vicars and Christopher, Janke, and Paquin).
He is a Deaf role model and is known internationally (“RSD Warmly Welcomes Patrick Graybill”).

Works Cited

"American Sign Language - Bilingual - Bicultural ." ASL info.com. Web. 3 Feb. 2011. <users.ccewb.net/lonerock/hearmemo/asl.htm>.

Graybill, Patrick. The World According to Pat: Reflections of Residential School Days. Silver             

Spring, MD: T.J. Publishers, 1986.

Lindgren, Kristin A, Doreen DeLuca, and Donna J. Napoli. Signs and Voices: Deaf Culture, Identity, Language, and Arts. Washington, DC: Gallaudet University Press, 2008. Print.

"Mission & Belief Statements and Profile of Graduates." Laurent Clerc Center. Gallaudet University.Web. 3 Feb. 2011. <http://clerccenter.gallaudet.edu/Clerc_Center/Our_Schools/Mission_and_Belief_Statements.html>.

Moore, Matthew S, and Linda Levitan. For Hearing People Only: Answers to Some of the Most

Commonly Asked Questions About the Deaf Community, Its Culture, and the "deaf

Reality". Rochester, N.Y: Deaf Life Press, 2003. Print.

Naturale, Joan. "Short Stories and Mysteries Retold in ASL  | RIT Libraries." RIT Libraries. Rochester Institute of Technology. Web. 7 Feb. 2011. <http://library.rit.edu/guides/asl-studies/short-stories-and-mysteries-retold-asl.html>.

"Patrick Graybill." Welcome to DeafPeople.com. MSM Productions, Ltd. Web. 4 Feb. 2011. <http://www.deafpeople.com/action/action_info/graybill.html>.

Poetry in Motion: Patrick Graybill a  DVD by Sign Media Inc Perf. Patrick Graybill, 1989.

Rich, Rita, Christopher Janke, and Ethan Paquin. "American Sign Language Poetry: Special Edition." Slope. Slope Publishing Inc., 2004. Web. 15 Feb. 2011. <slope.org/archive/asl/ >.

"RSD Warmly Welcomes our 2009-2010 Deaf Artist-in-Residence Patrick Graybill 02/25/10." Rochester School for the Deaf . Rochester School For the Deaf. Web. 4 Feb. 2011. <http://www.rsdeaf.org/gallery.asp?n=RSD-Warmly-Welcomes-our-2009-2010-Deaf-A&action=view&ID=120>.

"Through Deaf Eyes: A Transcript." Through Deaf Eyes. WETA. Web. 4 Feb. 2011. <www.pbs.org/weta/throughdeafeyes/about/transcript.pdf>.

Van, Cleve J. V, and Barry A. Crouch. A Place of Their Own: Creating the Deaf Community in

America. Washington, D.C: Gallaudet University Press, 1989. Print.

Vicars, Bill . "American Sign Language (ASL) poetry." ASL University. Lifeprint.com. Web. 3 Feb. 2011. <http://www.lifeprint.com/asl101/topics/poetry.htm>.

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[1] Deaf with a capital D denotes someone who considers themselves culturally Deaf, and uses American Sign Language to communicate.  This is as opposed to the use of the term deaf which refers to the medical views of deaf people and the people who are medically deaf but do not choose to consider themselves as a part of the Deaf community.

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Patrick Graybill---Short Poem

Rhiannon Jones

Short Poem Analysis

Ann Hostetler

The Rift Between Hearing and Deaf Family Members

            Patrick Graybill’s collection of poetry, Poetry in Motion, contains two variations of translations of a poem by a famous hearing poet and nine original poems composed in American Sign Language[1]. One of the original works, named “Paradox,” represents a problem which many Deaf people face.

            In Paradox, Patrick Graybill uses a song about loneliness as a metaphor for the relationships between Deaf people and their hearing family members.  He conveys the emotion of the singer when taking on her persona by tilting back his head and closing his eyes.  This conveys the deep impact which separation from loved ones may cause.  He then connects this metaphor to the Deaf community by discussing familial patterns rather than romantic love.

            The trend that  hearing family members of deaf individuals infrequently are able to sign well enough to communicate easily with their deaf family members is expressed in the poem “Paradox” (Parasnis 120).  The following is the interpretation of the poem suggested by Michael Davidson, a writer, professor, researcher of disability studies, and hard of hearing man, in the book “Signs and Voices: Deaf Culture, Identity, Language, and Arts” (“Michael Davidson”).

            A woman, who is black, sings a song.  As the pianist plays the piano, she sings a song whose title is “My man, where is the man I love?”  White and black keys of the piano bounce up and down as her voice rises.  There are women in the audience with men among them.  All watch the singer as she cries out, “My man, where is the man I love?”  The piano keys, black and white, come to a stop.  In a white and black room, women rise and applaud the singer—men as well—applaud for a long time.  The woman smiles, bows, walks over to someone seated.  Her man!  So that for her, the meaning of the song is just a song, nothing more (Lindgren, DeLuca, and Napoli).

Patrick Graybill employs a number of poetic devices in this poem in order to emphasize certain details.  He mentions some of these in his comments which appear after the poem.  He uses the “1”  handshape, in which the index is fully extended and the rest of the fingers are balled up into a fist,  for the word “black,” “smile,” and when he says that she bows and walks up to the seated man (Vicars; Poetry in Motion). For the allusion to music, he uses the four handshape, in which the thumb is across the palm of the hand, the rest of the fingers spread wide and draws this handshape back from the mouth of the singer and from the keys of the piano.  [R1] After the singer stops and walks away those patterns of poetic devices are stopped, thereby highlighting the ending statement in which the narrator says that for him the song brought to mind the difficulties which arose between him and his father.

The narrator’s statement about his father is further brought out by the large amount of contrast in the poem. He says that the woman singing is black, that some of the keys on the piano are black, that the room is partially black, and that the other keys are white, and the rest of the room is white (Poetry in Motion).  When describing the composition of the audience, he first mentions the women then changes hands and the men, again creating a dichotomy (Lindgren, DeLuca, and Napoli 185). This pattern of contrast parallels the differences between the life of the hearing singer who does not have any deep feelings connected to the song, and the life of the Deaf audience member (the narrator) who feels a strong connection to it because it describes the linguistic rift which he feels separates him from his father.  The narrator then further contrasts that although his mother could sign his father could not.

Immediately following the performance of the poem, Patrick Graybill describes how the poem is significant in his own life. Patrick Graybill grew up in Kansas and went to the Kansas School for the Deaf (“Patrick Graybill”).   Like ninety percent of deaf children, his parents were both hearing, but he also grew up with six siblings, four of whom were Deaf. [R2]  Because two of his older sisters were Deaf and learned American Sign Language at the Kansas School for the Deaf and they taught him, Graybill’s first language was ASL.  His mother was able to sign moderately well, but his father was able to sign only a very small amount (Poetry in Motion).  It is common for the mother but not the father of a deaf child, to know how to sign.  [R3] By bringing this trend into the poem, Graybill further demonstrates his connection with the Deaf community.

The poem “Paradox” is a work by and about the Deaf experience.  By using a specific example, metaphor, contrast, rhyme scheme, and visible emotion, Patrick Graybill explains a problem which the Deaf community faces continuously. 

Work Cited

Lindgren, Kristin A, Doreen DeLuca, and Donna J. Napoli. Signs and Voices: Deaf Culture, Identity, Language, and Arts. Washington, DC: Gallaudet University Press, 2008. Print.

"Michael Davidson (Poet)." World News. World News Network, 2011 Web. 23 Feb. 2011. <http://wn.com/Michael_Davids

Poetry in Motion: Patrick Graybill a DVD by Sign Media Inc Perf. Patrick Graybill, 1989.

Vicars, William. "American Sign Language: Handshapes." ASL University. lifeprint.com, 8 Jan.

1997. Web. 10 Feb. 2011. <http://www.lifeprint.com/asl101/pages-

layout/handshapes.htm>.

Wilcox, Sherman. American Deaf Culture: An Anthology. Silver Spring, Md: Linstok Press,

1989. Print.

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[1] American Sign Language or ASL is the language used by the Deaf community in the United States, some parts of Canada, and some other areas of the world.  The Deaf community is, in part, a group of people who live in the same area, and who work together to achieve some common goals which are related to the Deaf people (Wilcox 3). 

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Patrick Graybill---Long Poem

Rhiannon Jones

Intro to Literature

Professor Hostetler

Individual Poetry Project: Long Poem

The Liberation of the Deaf Community

            American Sign Language is the language used by the Deaf community in the United States, some parts of Canada, and some other areas of the world.  The Deaf community is, in part, a group of people who live in the same area, and who work together to achieve some common goals related to the Deaf people (Wilcox 3).  The first letter in “Deaf” is capitalized to differentiate culturally “Deaf”-- people who are medically deaf and who associate with the Deaf community--from “deaf,” a term used for medical non-cultural discussions (Wilcox 1).

One significant person in the Deaf community is poet, storyteller, translator, actor, and teacher, Patrick Graybill (“RSD Warmly Welcomes Patrick Graybill”).  Some of his original poetic works and two of his translations were collected onto the DVD, Poetry in Motion.  Cynthia L. Peters wrote a translation of the original poem “Liberation.”
"English English
Prodding, prodding
Hand pushing down head
signing, signing
Later chained, chained
Anger, anger
comes to a head
Free at last!
Signing, signing
Confrontation, you and me
Resolved, let us bow
Clasp hands
Peace at last
Wonderful
Mine and Yours
Let us bow
Equal in all" (Peters).

The following is my summary of the poem "Liberation" by Patrick Graybill, which appears on the DVD, Poetry in Motion:

English. English is paternalism.  He signs expressively, shocked, but his hands are grabbed. His hands are caught together at the wrists.  In response he smiles, twists out of that grip, crumples up what was binding him and signs.  His mind is opened.  He signs again.  Someone or something approaches him aggressively.  They nudge each other back and forth in gradually lesser amounts.  Eventually the two of them bow and shake hands.  They become peaceful.  "It's Amazing that mine and yours can bow, and are equal," he concludes smiling.

[R1]  

This poem is about Patrick Graybill's view of the relationship between American Sign Language and English, with some allusions to his school days and North American history.  In this poem, Patrick Graybill uses a limited number of handshapes[1] and movement.  The control of handshapes and repetition of movement are common devices in American Sign Language poetry (Bauman, 42 and Vicars).  

In the first section of the poem, Patrick Graybill draws a comparison between English and paternalism by using the same handshape and movement for each sign. In this first section, he starts with a downward motion of the cupped right hand moving down onto the cupped left hand, while exaggeratingly mouthing the word.  He repeats this word a little bit to the left and above where the previous sign was.  Then, he uses the same movement of the right hand, but without the left hand or mouthing, a little farther to the left and up than before, following the same pattern he does this movement once more in the air, and then the final word of this series ends on his head.  The overall movement created during the repetition of these words was an upward spiral.  The final word he uses was referred to by the translator cited above as "hand pushing down on head."  I would like to propose an amendment to the translation of the poem.  I believe that the marked line could be translated as "paternalism."  This first statement expresses a common view of the Deaf community about the educational techniques which were employed in the past, and the pitying views which many hearing people mistakenly have about Deaf people.  The comparison by the similarity of the cupped handshape and movement which was used for each of the signs in that section.    

Patrick Graybill then makes a reference to when he was a student at the Kansas School for the Deaf.  At the time Graybill attended that school, the students were required to use speech in the classrooms.  They were not permitted to sign.  If a student was caught signing they were forced to wear a pair of white mittens which had a short string connecting them (Graybill).  When the narrator’s hands are caught together at the wrists he is miming of that occurrence. When he twists out of those invisible mittens, he wads them up using the same movement that he uses for the word “signing.” This conveys the idea that the Deaf community used American Sign Language to get free from the oralists'[2] oppression. 

In the last part of the poem, Patrick Graybill only uses two handshapes, the "bent" handshape and the "flat" handshape (Vicars). During the interaction between the unknown "someone or something," he comments on the relationship between English and American Sign Language.  He uses the flat hands palms facing each other to represent American Sign Language or the Deaf community and English or hearing people respectively.  The left hand[R2]  represents American Sign Language and the Deaf community.  He uses a quick and aggressive movement to describe how something approached American Sign Language.  When the education system for the Deaf was first established in the United States, sign languages were used in instruction (Moore, and Levitan 44).  Around 1860, many schools switched to educating students through residual hearing and speech methods, under the assertion that spoken languages were superior to signed languages (Moore, and Levitan 215).  The two hands move forward and backward in synchrony in gradually lesser amounts. This passage conveys that although English seemed to aggressively attack ASL, the Deaf community fought back.  Some events of importance in this conflict between the Deaf community and the hearing world include the decrease in residential school enrollment due to mainstreaming of young Deaf children, the response of the Deaf community to that, and the Deaf President Now movement, during which the students of Gallaudet University rallied, shut down the school and demanded that the Deaf candidate for the position of university president be selected in place of the hearing president (Moore and  Leviatan  177, 179, 577). 

 Patrick Graybill uses he bent handshapes when he indicates that the two opposing forces can bow, and shake hands.  He again uses that handshape for the word “equal.   In the conclusion to this poem, Patrick Graybill happily predicts that eventually the Deaf community and hearing people can respect each other and acknowledge the fact that they are equal.[R3] 

Resources
"American Deaf Culture." Sign Media, Inc. Publisher of Master ASL!. Sign Media, Incorporated,

n.d. Web. 10 Feb. 2011. <http://www.signmedia.com/info/adc.htm>.
Bauman, H-Dirksen L, Jennifer L. Nelson, and Heidi M. Rose. Signing the Body Poetic: Essays

on American Sign Language Literature. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2006.

Internet resource.
Graybill, Patrick. The World According to Pat: Reflections of Residential School Days. Silver

Spring, MD: T.J. Publishers, 1986.
Peters, Cynthia. Deaf American Literature: From Carnival to the Canon. Washington, D.C:

Gallaudet University Press, 2000. Print.
"RSD Warmly Welcomes our 2009-2010 Deaf Artist-in-Residence Patrick Graybill 02/25/10." Rochester School for the Deaf . Rochester School For the Deaf. Web. 4 Feb. 2011. <http://www.rsdeaf.org/gallery.asp?n=RSD-Warmly-Welcomes-our-2009-2010-Deaf-A&action=view&ID=120>.

"Through Deaf Eyes: A Transcript." Through Deaf Eyes. WETA. Web. 4 Feb. 2011.

<www.pbs.org/weta/throughdeafeyes/about/transcript.pdf>.

Vicars, William. "American Sign Language: Handshapes." ASL University. lifeprint.com, 8 Jan.

1997. Web. 10 Feb. 2011. <http://www.lifeprint.com/asl101/pages-

layout/handshapes.htm>.

Vicars, William. "American Sign Language Poetry: Hearts and Hands" ASL University.

lifeprint.com, 8 Jan. 1997. Web. 10 Feb. 2011. <http://www.lifeprint.com/asl101/pages-

layout/handshapes.htm>.

Wilcox, Sherman. American Deaf Culture: An Anthology. Silver Spring, Md: Linstok Press,

1989. Print.

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[1] I am using the “handshapes” as opposed to “hand shapes” in accordance with works on ASL Literature, such as “Signing the Body Poetic,” by Bauman and Nelson.

[2] Oralists were those who subscribed to the pathological view of deafness, suppressed the use of sign languages because they believed that sign languages hindered the development of speech skills, and supported the idea of using residual hearing (if present) and speech training in the education of deaf students( Wilcox 10).

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Comments on The Air Raid

The Air Raid
http://poetsagainstthewar.org/displaypoem.asp?AuthorID=65127

I think that was I living in such a time, I would have been afraid of such a thing happening, and would have strongly resisted allowing anyone to be away from me. Like the Martin Luther King Day poem that I discussed earlier, the Bombing of Burmingham, the poet uses the characters she does to strongly convey that the innocent (children) get hurt because of conflicts that they have nothing to do with. It seems to me that the narrator is trying to distract herself with the candle, kind of a self-hypnosis sort of thing. I would imagine that Erna, is the younger sister of the narrator and that the playschool is the same as the kindergarten. I wonder if there is some sort of symbolism to the red candle. I suppose red is often used as blood (Poe, the Mask of the Red Death). Narrative poems, usually ones with significantly more detail than this, tend to affect me strongly. To most of the poems that I read, I was comparatively apathetic. ). I think that the reason for my lack of response was that many of the poems sounded like they were discussing events, by the dry technique that history books use. There wasn’t enough detail for me to feel like there were actual lives involved in the story. (In many of the stories there wasn't any background to the people involved, and I suppose there isn't much here, but it does mention that playschool is where the narrator's sister plays. (It sounds like it is her sister, anyway.)) This poem sounds more like a memory than other one’s do, and thereby lends credibility to the story. 
The sentences of the poem come in fragments. In the first poem there are three sentences of two parts, and in the second poem there are two sentences in three parts. In the third paragraph there is one sentence of three parts. This is the rhythm which creates a feeling of regularly decreasing speed. It would seem that this is used for dramatic effect.
The vocabulary creates the feeling that the narrator is a young child. He or she calls the mother "mama," and uses simple descriptors such as "big," "red," "yellow," and "ball."

Harlem Renaissance

So far my favorite groups of poems have been from the Harlem Renaissance.  It is not necessarily the content of the poems which I enjoy, but rather the way that when I read that (particularly when I read them out loud) the words flow along.  It seems like I speed up as I read rather than slow down.  I think that a factor in this is due to rhythm and that the words which are chosen tend to be easy to enunciate.  Additionally I liked hearing the poem "Malindy sings," even if it was quite difficult to read. The way that it was written made it seem more like I was listening to someone speak than that the words were coming from some sort of narrative black hole (which is generally how I feel when I am reading books).

9/11 Poems

ALABANZA
How is this poem organized? 
Alabanza starts by describing the workers. In the introduction of the online clip, the author describes that these workers were illegal aliens working there (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vk21TZlN2u4). The majority of the poem consists of this information. Then, near the end it describes the crash, the deaths, and what sounds to me, to be the interactions of the terrorists and who died there. It is therefore arranged in temporal order. The first focus is significantly longer than the others. (Perhaps this is to create some sort of feeling of suspense or comfort, which is interrupted by the crash. ?) 

How does it make its impact? 
I think that the point of the work Alabanza was that the souls of the two groups (the terrorists and the workers, or perhaps the innocents in Kabul, Afghanistan have suffered under the control of terrorist regimes, the Taliban) get along well after death. He brings attention to this idea by finishing with the conversation between the two sources of smoke, and by again using the word Alabanza when speaking of the spirits.
Another point that I believe may have been intended was the greatness of everyday life (or perhaps specifically daily life which is influenced by religion and heritage).He creates this feeling my using the word Alabanza (praise) when talking about things of cultural influence, and ceasing this practice when discussing the course of the attack.
Both of these points are able to appear clearly because of the underemphasized (through the steadiness of his tone of voice, impersonal imagery, and brief appearance in the poem). Since the crash was what was emphasized by the media, this makes a strikingly different view of the event.

Can you sense how it is related to the tradition of writing that has come before it, and how it aims to make the language new? 
From the recording of the poem, it seems that it alludes to music. I have this feeling because of the repetitive way in which he says the word “Alabanza.” Because of the connotation of the translation of that word, and the history of Hispanic culture and Catholicism, I am inclined to believe that this poem was specifically modeled off of Spanish church songs. I would imagine that this differs from worship songs in that it celebrates the everyday happenings, as well a God. It makes English poetry new by incorporating words of other languages.




TRY TO PRAISE THE MUTILATED WORLD
How is this poem organized? 
It is organized by specificity. The beginning is vague, from there the poem becomes more potent. The middle of the poem seems to hold the main point. The conclusion fades back out, using natural imagery as the author had in the beginning of the poem. In the overall trend, this poem seems to be organized much like a research paper (although I cannot see any reason that would have been intentional).
How does it make its impact? 
It is indicated by the text on the main part of the page which includes Adam Zagajewski’s poem that he views poetry as a way to heal the world (http://www.blueflowerarts.com/adam-zagajewski). The title of the work would suggest that the point is that one should “praise the mutilated world.” Perhaps his hope was that by alluding to peaceful scenes of nature and of people experiencing nature in an everyday environment (e.g. a ship, a room, the park), people will be settled from whatever event has caused separation of the narrator and a loved one, and the positions of refugees and executioners.
Can you sense how it is related to the tradition of writing that has come before it, and how it aims to make the language new? 
This poem likely came at a time in which there were many poems written about the destruction of nature. I am unaccustomed to most of the ways that Zagajewski conveys things. For example, he refers to dew as drops of wine, and uses the phrase “earth’s scars.” I am not sure of the significance of either. I do not feel that I really understood this poem well. Much of the wording seems to be nonsense. Perhaps that nonsense is the narrator’s “mutilated” view of the world. The wording, rather than the organization, causes me to think of stream-of-consciousness writings.




DROPPING LEAFLETS BY JENA OSMAN.
How is this poem organized? 
Jena Osman’s poem is choppy and fragmented.
How does it make its impact? 
I believe that a significant power of this piece lies in its allusion to another work. The organization and content of Osman’s work is reminiscent of Picasso’s Guernica, which contains a jumbled mass of misshapen bodies, a bull, a horse, a lamp, and other images arranged in a grotesque pattern(http://homepage.mac.com/dmhart/WarArt/StudyGuides/Picasso.html). That painting is considered to be an outcry against war. Likewise, the work of Jena Osman has a distinctively choppy feeling to it both in the way that it is read in the online clip and in the way that it is written (http://www.writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/88v/osman-leaflets.html, https://moodle.goshen.edu/mod/resource/view.php?id=57142). Jena Osman’s piece also seems to be commentary on war, especially near the end, with the words “fight,” “terrorists,” “bomb,” and “warriors.”
Can you sense how it is related to the tradition of writing that has come before it, and how it aims to make the language new? 
Clearly the newspapers which were the source of these phrases predated this poem. Additionally, considering the tendency for United States citizens to speak out about their political concerns. It is likely that the work “Dropping Leaflets” came after many poems regarding political criticism had been written. Jena Osman’s work is striking in that it seems rather blunt. It makes the original statements into a jabbering mess.

Introduction

My name is Rhiannon. I am creating this Blog for an Introduction to Poetry project.