Some deaf/Deaf Poetry

I didn't post about deaf heroes yesterday. There are plenty, but I have poetry on my mind. I've blogged about deaf artists, athletes, politicians, and scientists. No Authors. Though on the side of my blog I've listed some books written by and about deaf people. "Talk, Talk" was a great thriller, by the way! I haven't gotten to most of the others yet because I've been side-tracked with other stuff. This week I felt like blogging about poetry, just cause I like it. I found the first three on Jamie Berke's page.


I loved this one by Sheri Birnbaum Dennis--

"The Loud Lips of Life"

Sitting here…

watching my trees dance to the muted tune of a breeze
two birds lovingly wing their way through the sun-glistening evergreen
as a hummingbird stands on the wind for a Santa-red drink from its feeder.
squirrels play tag on the sculptured-brown forest carpet
while hundreds of bugs dance in the conical warm sun.
here I sit surrounded by my four cats
who occasionally open their mouths as if to say they're enjoying the view.


Life is signing to me for
there is no gentle whooosh of air through the trees,
or flipflipflipflip of the birds as they move through the air,
or the HUMMMM of the humming bird's singing wings,
or BUZZZZ of a congregation of bugs.

Where is that resounding crr-uunnch of dry-crisp wintery leaves being trampled on by squirrels?


I'm learning to read the Lips of Life.


I really feel like I'm learning to read the lips of life the more deaf I become. I think I'm going to have this next one FRAMED. I LOVE it!!


"What Did You Say By Reba Orton"

Huh? Hmm? Eh? What?
Give that another shot.
What was that?
I missed that.
Repeat that.
I didn’t get that.
I beg your pardon, say that again.
I’m sorry, run that by me again.
Speak louder, speak slower.
Excuse me? Pardon me?
I couldn’t hear you,I can’t hear you.
I didn’t hear you, I don’t understand you.

This one's beautiful.

"The Sound of Sunlight by Anna M. Stott"


Though the silence never ends

I can hearI can hear:

A dove in flight


The sound of sunlight


Trees dancing without wind


Stars twinkling in the night


The flowers sweet songs


The moon's soft spirte


My loves delight.


Though the silence never ends


I can hearI can hear:


All the worlds words
All the lies
All the laughter
And all the the cries
All the songs
And every sigh...
I can hear.

Sometimes what you see is too beautiful for sound. Next--there's this poingnant poem.

Brother Harold

"Brother Harold was a deaf man,"

Said the preacher with a tear,

"But today he's up in heaven,
And today he can hear.
"Brother Harold could not speak,

So he talked with his hands,

But today he speaks with God,
And at last, God understands.
"Brother Harold was a sinner,

Like the rest of us," he screamed.

But no longer is he silent,
For his sins have been redeemed."
And the people in the chapel

Who prayed for his soul

Rejoiced at the conviction
That Harold was now whole.
But as I sat among the mourners

And recalled the Dad I knew

I asked myself the question:
"Is this message really true?
"Are deaf folks simply hearing folks

Whose ears do not perform?

Are women just like men
Except for function and for form?
"Are black folks just like white folks

But for the color of their skin?

Are all of us the same
If we but look deep within?
"Or is each of us unique

In what we are and what we give?

Aren't our differences our strengths?"
Let me share what I believe.
I believe if there's a heaven

It's a place not so very far

Where our differences are valued
And we're accepted as we are.
And I believe if there's a God.

He or She understands,

For He listens with his heart,
And he talks with his hands.

- Robert Ingram


Yeah-- God talks to me without words even now.

And finally-- I LOVED this-- which maybe some of you have already seen. But this is what I LOVE about ASL. You can't do this kind of poetry with words. It's like dancing with hands. I'm not even sure how to decribe this, except to say -- AWESOME.

Poetry-You Have To Be Deaf To Understand

Today's post is about deaf art and audism. The picture above, painted by Susan Dupor, is titled "Family Dog". The girl on the ground represents how she feels like the family dog when her family fails to consider her communication needs. I love the way her face looks so dog like. A large social gathering is a nightmare for most deaf people, with several conversations going on at once and people excitedly talking above one another, no one using ASL. The blur of faces depicts the difficulties in following along. Even if she could lip read, watching so many faces at once would be impossible. Everyone seems to be ignoring her. Communicating with her is too much work, so they don't bother. I have felt just like this many times. I'm there, but not interacting with anyone. Jokes are told, stories shared, and I'm not hearing any of it. I've been trying to convince my family to take ASL, but its' hard to get them to face the facts about my hearing loss, since they knew me way back when, and my speech is still good. Also I happen to be pretty good at lipreading one on one.

"But you do so well with your lip-reading," they say.

"Do I?" (or is it that you don't want to be bothered with ASL?) My last audiogram indicated I was hearing less than 12% of what was being said with amplification on random word testing. When I go for the cochlear implant evaluation, we'll see how well I do with contextual clues.

Below is a poem called "You Have To Be Deaf To Understand" I only had mild hearing loss as a child. Some of this rings true for me now. I love this poem.


What is it like to "hear" a hand?
You have to be deaf to understand.

What is it like to be a small child,
In a school, in a room void of sound-
With a teacher who talks and talks and talks;
And then when she does come around to you,
She expects you to know what she's said?
You have to be deaf to understand.

Or the teacher thinks that to make you smart,
You must first learn how to talk with your voice;
So mumbo-jumbo with hands on your face
For hours and hours without patience or end,
Until out comes a faint resembling sound?
You have to be deaf to understand.

What is it like to be curious,
To thirst for knowledge you can call your own,
With an inner desire that's set on fire-
And you ask a brother, sister, or friend
Who looks in answer and says, "Never mind"?
You have to be deaf to understand.

What it is like in a corner to stand,
Though there's nothing you've done really wrong,
Other than try to make use of your hands
To a silent peer to communicate
A thought that comes to your mind all at once?
You have to be deaf to understand.

What is it like to be shouted at
When one thinks that will help you to hear;
Or misunderstand the words of a friend
Who is trying to make a joke clear,
And you don't get the point because he's failed?
You have to be deaf to understand.

What is it like to be laughed in the face
When you try to repeat what is said;
Just to make sure that you've understood,
And you find that the words were misread-
And you want to cry out, "Please help me, friend"?
You have to be deaf to understand.

What is it like to have to depend
Upon one who can hear to phone a friend;
Or place a call to a business firm
And be forced to share what's personal, and,
Then find that your message wasn't made clear?
You have to be deaf to understand.

What is it like to be deaf and alone
In the company of those who can hear-
And you only guess as you go along,
For no one's there with a helping hand,
As you try to keep up with words and song?
You have to be deaf to understand.

What is it like on the road of life
To meet with a stranger who opens his mouth-
And speaks out a line at a rapid pace;
And you can't understand the look in his face
Because it is new and you're lost in the race?
You have to be deaf to understand.

What is it like to comprehend
Some nimble fingers that paint the scene,
And make you smile and feel serene
With the "spoken word" of the moving hand
that makes you part of the world at large?
You have to be deaf to understand.

What is it like to "hear" a hand?
Yes, you have to be deaf to understand.

"You Have to be Deaf to Understand" was written by Willard J. Madsen, associate professor at Gallaudet College and a graduate of the Kansas School for the Deaf.