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.

---

[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).

---