February 1: POETRY! Reading/Interpreting Tone: who/what gives words to shape my unknown

At the  Pittsford Library:  We had special guest Kenny Lerner who showed videos of his partner Peter Cook and explained techniques of "visual" poetry and how to "voice" it. We were transported!  So many references came up afterwards… inspirations from mime artists such as Marcel Marceau, Bernard Bragg; Indian Classical dancing and Balasaraswati.  We did not discuss the Feb. 1 poems. 

For sure we all had a different idea of what poetry is seeing this!!!!

a)  4 arms/snowstorm: (3:45)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nMqYym4Mws&t=1s

He showed us the film techniques of combining angles in telling the story, the ability to act out different stages of transformation, the tossing in of visual references such as Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel fresco of God's finger reaching for Adam's.  Old Wise Corn #1  is a perfect example, where Peter Cook is both telling the story and being the ear or corn and all that grows from it into the universe.  A story that is a reminder of our humanity.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqcUqTke7u8&t=198s

Wise Old Corn #1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqcUqTke7u8&t=2s

He performed the ASL Version of this poem by Constantin Abaluta, The Intruder  but explained that his "translation" with Peter created an entirely different poem!  Kenny and Peter had attempted to translate it at the 2005 Poetry International Festival in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.  The translation went so far off Abaluta's original, it because a new poem in and of itself.   Despite this, Abaluta graciously accepted the work, so the Prayer for Serge https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ONwVdrYGrE&t=1s is dedicated to him.

As he repeated the signs, it kept enriching the sense of the story-- a very different story of a man's passing : their dear friend and wonderful Deaf poet, Serge Brierea from Quebec.  To hear the voicing of the poem and see how the ASL and gestures perform the immensity of a life passing is impossible to describe. There  a whole sense of the blanket of ink drying in the breeze, and a soul, gone in one breath... a simultaneous richness bouncing off the English translation. 

What is important in poetry? Alan Ginsberg would say, "hard, clear images".  In the case of this ASL translation,  "money in the street" becomes a "lucky coin", the "forsaking their telephones" becomes the repeated line The phone won't ring... because Serge is gone... 

BIO  Deaf Poet Peter Cook and hearing Coauthor Kenny Lerner founded  Flying Words Project, an American Sign Language (ASL) poetry troupe, in 1984.  As Dirksen Bauman, Associate Professor, Dept. of ASL and Deaf Studies at Gallaudet University describes it: 

“Flying Words Project has accomplished what poets have been trying to do for several centuries now;  to make their poems more visual, more embodied, more alive.  To witness the work of FWP is to witness a milestone in literary history."

Cook and Lerner have been the recipients of grants from the New York State Council of the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Puffin Foundation and are the authors of four dvd anthologies, The Year of the Walking Dogs (1984-90), the Can't Touch Tours (1990-2003), and "Live at the Bowery Club (2007) and Flying Words Project: Live in Colorado (2014.) 

You can contact Flying Words Project at Flyingwordsproject@yahoo.com

 Their impressive biography will show how their deaf poetry series expanded  to travel to Rotterdam (36th Poetry International Festival held in the Netherlands), Latvia, Paris as well as around the US. As Kenny puts it: "we've been around awhile and get around."

 Kenny has worked with other deaf artists and is the co-author of "Missing Children" with Debbie Rennie.  He teaches History at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf in Rochester, NY.  He ends his bio this way:  He lives in the country with his wife, two children, and two dumb dogs.  

Double Twinkle

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFAQUjoj3l0 (even though an abstraction, you understand... why not a flower swallows a butterfly... 

He also performed: 

Cup of Joe

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhwPYDgP1ng

Here is  a link where you can find almost all of them.

https://infoguides.rit.edu/c.php?g=327593&p=5492738&preview=4473518c34d9cbfbabe1ae55569cc143

In the "poems" 

POETRY!  Reading/Interpreting Tone

who gives words to shape my unknown?

 

"Every great poet is a very private person who happens to write beautifully enough, powerfully enough, spell-bindingly enough that they can speak privately to many people at the same time. That to my mind is the definition of an original poet." -- Ilya Kaminsky

Wednesday at the Pittsford Library: Kenny will start off a special program using videos from the Flying Word Projectand talk about ASL technique.

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