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Beauty is a Verb

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Jennifer Bartlett, Sheila Black, Michael Northen

October 2011

Aimee Nicole

As the subtitle notes, Beauty is a Verb has been marked as the new poetry of disability. After a “Short History of American Disability Poetry,” this hefty anthology is broken off into sections, for example: “The Disability Poetics Movement,” “Lyricism of the Body,” and “Towards a New Language of Embodiment.” Rather than just including the actual poetry, authors preface their work with short autobiographies. They touch upon their disabilities as well as how they affect both their lives and their art. This allows the reader to have a more personal interaction with the poetry, as there is a foundation for the words and for the experience.

As the subtitle notes, Beauty is a Verb has been marked as the new poetry of disability. After a “Short History of American Disability Poetry,” this hefty anthology is broken off into sections, for example: “The Disability Poetics Movement,” “Lyricism of the Body,” and “Towards a New Language of Embodiment.” Rather than just including the actual poetry, authors preface their work with short autobiographies. They touch upon their disabilities as well as how they affect both their lives and their art. This allows the reader to have a more personal interaction with the poetry, as there is a foundation for the words and for the experience.

Just as all disabilities are different, the authors all have different styles and approaches to their craft. One author, Jim Ferris, refers to the percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie in his prose. After losing her hearing, she learned to hear pitch by feeling the vibrations on her body. Glennie said: “I see the body as a huge ear. Deafness does not mean that you can’t hear, only that there is something wrong with the ears. Even someone who is totally deaf can still hear/feel sounds.” This remark was especially insightful to me. Ferris’s poem “From the Surgeons: Drs. Sofield, Louis, Hark, Alfini, Millar, Baehr, Bevan-Thomas, Tsatsos, Ericson, and Bennan” takes a look at certain dates and follows a medical diagnosis including history, physical examinations, progress notes, etc. Under the date 11-8-63, Ferris writes: “Progress Notes. This bot has received his long leg brace with the caliper extension today. The brace is satisfactory, except for the fact that the ankle joint is rigid and he has a great deal of difficulty getting his trousers on and off and needs to split the seams.” The details in each recollection allow the readers to almost become a part of the diagnosis and feel the author’s frustration in a clinical manner.

In addition to this clinical medical angle, the book also contains light and comical parts that allow the reader to laugh and connect with the narrators. John Lee Clark has an amazing poem titled “Deaf Blind: Three Squared Cinquain.” Here is the first of three stanzas:

BARBARA WALTERS IS IN AWE
of a deaf-blind man
who cooks without burning himself!
Helen Keller is to blame.
Can’t I pick my nose
without it being a miracle?

Every single person on this earth has had to adapt in order to survive, whether due to a physical disability, to fit in at school, or to get a promotion at work. Since the world was not made to accommodate each and every person, we have to adapt to the world around us in order to succeed. Clark hits the nail on the head with this commentary and was able to make me laugh in the process.

Hal Sirowitz also crafts an ingenious poem, titled “A Step Above Cows.” As much as I want to type the whole poem in here, you will have to get the book in order to finish after the teaser:

I read somewhere that a cow
can only walk up stairs but
not down. Even though I have
Parkinson’s, I’m a step ahead
of a cow. I can walk up or down
without much trouble.

While appearing funny and light, this poem continues along to be both insightful and persistent.

Jennifer Bartlett brings up an interesting point in her piece “Exit through the Gift Shop.” She asks: “What responsibility does the poet have, if any at all, to question and/or resist stereotypes?” This is a question many writers struggle with throughout their careers, whether they are women, of a minority race, or suffer from a chronic illness, like me. However, whatever your approach or views, once you break the ice with your readers you have an audience with nothing but ears. And this insightful new collection deserves the widest audience possible.

Spread the word!