Reading John Lee’s Poetry with Disability
Studies
Tayfur Cihantimur
Independent Researcher
Abstract:
In recent years, disability
studies have gained considerable attention due to the publication and
dissemination of numerous studies offering new insights to society. Ultimately,
the primary focus of disability studies is to shift the focus from fixing the individual
with impairment to enhancing the societal integration of such individuals.
Researchers employing disability studies aim to analyze literary works about
disability and societal relationships. John Lee Clark, a DeafBlind poet,
essayist, and independent researcher from Minnesota, USA, is a compelling
example within disability studies. The theoretical framework used to study his
poems revealed that Clark skillfully portrays the emotional struggles,
difficulties, and inequalities disabled individuals face, particularly in
economic and educational contexts. His poetry's rich themes and imaginative
nuances provide readers with a profound understanding of disability, offering a
unique and meaningful exploration of the inner worlds and social connections of
disabled individuals. This study provides a stylistic analysis of a selection
of his poems.
Keywords: Disability Theory, John Lee,
American Poetry, DeafBlind, Stylistics
Introduction
While the salient definitions of disability
studies are extensive, a common thread crosscutting these is the inclusion of
civil rights issues into the lives of disabled individuals. However, disability
studies recognize the fundamental importance of disability in the human
experience shared both by the disabled and non-disabled people alike.“Through
research, artistic production, teaching and activism, disability studies seeks
to augment understanding of disability in all cultures and historical periods,
to promote greater awareness of the experiences of disabled people, and to
advocate for social change” (Ferguson 71).Disability studies' project is to
weave disabled people back into society's fabric and remind them that they are
human beings, too (Preston 56). In essence, disability studies:
aims to
expose the ways that disability has been made exceptional and to work to
naturalize disabled people- remake us as full citizens whose rights and
privileges are intact, whose history and contributions are recorded, and whose
often-distorted representations in art, literature, film, theater, and other
forms of artistic expression are fully analyzed (Linton518).
Accordingly, disability studies assumes that
people with disability are often represented in distorted ways. For instance,
when an individual using a wheel chair enters a building and encounters stairs
instead of a ramp, they encounter both a set of stairs and social barriers
(Dunn16). Disability studies, therefore, aims to remove such obstacles, stating
that the problem is not in wheelchair use but in buildings that are not
accessible. Disability studies strive for individuals to take a whole place in
society. Stereotypical discourses used
in society may have a traumatic effect on disabled people. For instance,
expressions that use impairments metaphorically to convey a negative sense,
such as "a lame idea," "turn a deaf ear," or "morally
blind, "are being seen as the equivalent of racial epithets (Davis504).
Theoretical Framework
Disability studies include various
theoretical approaches, such as medical, social, and cultural models, which
offer us essential perspectives on understanding disability representations in
literary works and the social meanings of these representations. Hence,
disability studies point to the realities in society as they intersect with
literature. Characterization is the most vital literary technique that connects
literary reality with social reality. Bérubé says, “It sometimes proceeds as if
characters in literary texts could be read simply as representations of real
people” (570). Therefore, the content and methods of such analyses grow as
researchers produce discussions and analyses on the nature of disability in
society in text and actual life.
Socially and historically, disability often
symbolizes evil, helplessness, or pity, leading to a restrictive
characterization pattern that undermines the humanity of both protagonists and
villains. For example, Shakespeare's murderous hunchbacked king, Richard III;
Melville's obsessive one-legged Captain Ahab; and Dickens's sentimental
hobbling urchin, Tiny Tim, are all natural
evildoers(MitchellandSnyder196).Naturally, these disabled characters tend to
create negative images in readers' minds. Metaphors cannot be
stripped away; they are integral to structuring narratives and cognitive
processes (Lakoff and Johnson 29). Metaphors are powerful tools that help us
understand how disability is perceived and re-produced in society. For
instance, when we look at Richard’s hunchback in Shakespeare's Richard III, it
may first be seen as a mere physical deformity. Still, from a literary
perspective, the hunchback metaphorically reflects the character's dreadful
ambition or evilness. When others use derogatory metaphors such as “bottled
spider” and “lump of foul deformity,” not only the character but also the whole
class of disabled individuals are stigmatized with negative images (Akhtar et
al.94).Hence, literary language reflects social perceptions to a certain
extent, but more importantly, itre-produces disability as a social rather than
a medical phenomenon.
“The presence of disability creates a
different picture of identity – one less stable than identities associated with
gender, race, sexuality, nation, and class – and therefore presents the
opportunity to rethink how human identity works” (Siebers 5). Identity does not
remain fixed because disability is not limited only to the individual's
physical or mental state, but also factors such as society's attitude towards
disabled individuals, environmental barriers, and cultural norms affect
identity formation. For example, a disabled person can belong to both African
American and LGBT+ communities. Hence, discussions on disability present a
multifaceted society open to continuous debate (Siebers2). Thus, theoretically,
literary texts can be examined by establishing and re-establishing the
relationships between disability and other identity (or agency) categories in a
way that shows the interactions among different identities and the consequences
of such complex interactions. Hence, people with disabilities are often
subjected to oppression and humiliation by other characters. Thus, it is
necessary to study the experiences and perceptions of disabled individuals as
reflected in their writing. Hence, this study focuses on John Lee’s poetry from
a disability theory perspective.
John Lee
John Lee Clark is a DeafBlind poet, essayist,
and independent researcher from Minnesota. His poetry book, “Suddenly Slow,”
was published in 2008, and he compiled two anthologies while serving as a
Braille and Protactile instructor for the Minnesota Department of Employment
and Economic Development. Clark, born into an utterly deaf family, says his
native language is ASL. He states that he could not receive a good education
and did not start studying until he was 12 years old. Even as a student, he
always received poor grades. He states that he remained at the first-grade
level in learning English, even though the years have passed. However, he
claims he learned English more quickly and fluently in the following years,
thanks to sign language (Wordgathering).
For Clark, he was an unconscious writer in
his preliminary writing career. He preferred longer poems with regular stanzas
as his poetic style and diction have changed significantly. As years passed,
his poems turned into shorter words, stanzas, and compressed poems (Bartlett et
al.283). One of the reasons for this change is that he writes in Braille, which
displays only one line at a time as visually impaired readers must move on to
the next after reading one line because readers without visual impairments can
see an entire page or several lines simultaneously while the visually impaired
cannot.
He thinks that there are prejudices against
disability and hearing-impaired individuals in English, and that is why
disabled people are reluctant to write poems or stories. The demonization of
deafness and blindness, equating it with death, and its romanticization allow
Clark to use poetry as a weapon and tool of protest (Bartlett, Clark, Ferris,
and Weise 272). As John Keats says: ''Heard melodies are sweet, but those
unheard / Are sweeter.'' This shows that disabled writers bring new light to
literature and art.
It is understandable that Clark writes in
free verse and does not use a precise rhyme scheme: "When free verse came into vogue, many
deaf poets were relieved. Free verse was more than literal to them: They were
freed from rhyming dictionaries, syllable counting, and artificial
pronunciation” (Clark7). This articulates that not his disability as a
deaf/blind person but a change in the form in poetry seems to change his poetic
style, suggesting it was not his disability but external forces prevalent in
literary theory and writing that affected his style that required specific
attention for a deaf/blind person, to focus on poetry as a sound system. Hence,
looking at such texts from a stylistic perspective necessitates identifying
“the patterns of usage in speech or writing” both in “numerical recurrence of
certain stylistic features” as well as employing “dissecting the text” by
looking at eye-catching peculiarities” (Arikan126).
A Deaf/Blind Poem
Clark’s diction is simple, most probably
because he wants his poems to appeal to everyone, especially disabled people, maybe
to encourage them to enjoy poetry. He thinks one cannot easily catch all the
metaphors, puns, and references, and he does not find it necessary to see them
all (Bartlett, Clark, Ferris, and Weise284). What is crucial for him is that
his poems remain in communication with the world, as can be seen in his poem “A
DeafBlind Poet”:
A DeafBlind Poet
A Deaf Blind poet doesn’t like to read
sitting up. A Deaf Blind poet likes to read Braille magazines on the john. A
Deaf Blind poet is in the habit of composing nineteenth-century letters and
pressing Alt+S. A Deaf Blind poet is a terrible student. A Deaf Blind poet does
a lot of groundbreaking research. A Deaf Blind poet is always in demand. A
Deaf Blind poet has yet to be gainfully employed. A Deaf Blind poet shares all
his trade secrets with his children. A Deaf Blind poet will not stop if police
order him to. A Deaf Blind poet used to like dogs but now prefers cats. A
Deaf Blind poet listens to his wife. A Deaf Blind poet knits soft things for
his dear friends. A Deaf Blind poet doesn’t believe in “contributing to
society.” (Clark,12)
First of all, the expression “DeafBlind Poet”
is a foregrounding by itself which, as Leech and Short define it as an
“artistically motivated deviation” (48) through which the poet’s name, thus
social existence, is purposefully deviated using changing it to a
physical/medical term. Therefore, foregrounding his poetic self regarding his
medical condition, the poet pulls the readers’ interest to “what” rather than
“who” he is. However, what follows this foregrounding in the poem is “who” he
is, showing that the poet does not hide but explains his identity openly as a
primarily medical existence.
Stylistically, foregrounding is not the only
device used by the poet. Anaphora is the leading device Clark uses in “A
DeafBlind Poet.” While the poem contains specific details about the personal
life of the DeafBlind, such as he “knits soft things for his dear friends” but
“doesn’t believe in ‘contributing to society,’” it also suggests that he is no
different from the rest.Although he ends his poem by writing “A Deaf Blind
poet doesn’t believe in contributing to society,” readers note that he is
good. These features make the poet’s life appealing to everyone as readers can
easily relate him to their own lives.
In essence, Clark's “A DeafBlind Poet”
informs us about the daily lives of disabled individuals. The poem opens with
the poet’s comment on “sitting up.” We learn that “he does not like to read
sitting up.” However, we then learn that he “likes to read Braille magazines
on the john,” a task that is traditionally and conventionally completed while
sitting up. Thus, he implies that his defecation habit enables him to read
and defecate; sitting up. Hence, it is the act of reading that changes his
likes in life.
As we learn, his daily routine is not
specific to him as a disabled individual but shared by all of us. “A Deaf Blind
poet is a terrible student.” This statement may refer to Clark's student years.
He says that people with disabilities do not receive adequate education in
society and are, therefore, often described as bad students. Inadequate
education makes it difficult for disabled individuals to realize and discover
their potential. Clark argues that literature and writing are essential tools
at this point and thinks that people can break down social barriers. Moreover,
Clark emphasizes the importance of disabled people conveying and sharing their
own stories with people by saying, "Pour stories into memory"(“A
Funeral”12). These stories help us understand the difficulties, successes, and
daily lives of disabled people and contribute to the destruction of prejudices
and stereotypes that exist in society.
That they are not seen as adequate in terms
of society can be understood from the following statement: “A Deaf Blind poet
has yet to be gainfully employed.” People need to work to continue their lives.
However, when we consider deaf and blind individuals, it may be challenging to
say they find employment comfortably. When the situation is like this, it is
pretty standard for disabled individuals to think like this: “A Deaf Blind poet
doesn't believe in contributing to society.” They may feel despondent, thinking
they cannot gain an equal place in society and are left outside social norms.
At this point, disability studies try to raise awareness in society, criticize
negative perceptions, and provide disabled individuals with the opportunity to
speak and express themselves.
The Culmination
The Culmination
Generous instinct, were you
My hand I must
Think. The later brain.
My hands craving every Learned heart.
Nature, art, World.
In my memories I thought of trust Then all
fear.
I Fell on my pain.
Hope shall in loss
Throb. My, my, my
Stand for the release.
A nation’s groan beneath
Dear night. All right. (Clark,15)
Line breaks, repletion, and impromptu forms
characterize Clark’s poetic diction. Using line breaks aims to attract the
reader's attention as it allows the reader to pause at the end of each line,
most probably to think before moving on to the following line. By doing this,
he also regulates the poem's tempo through pauses. Hence, replition helps
setting the rhythm in the reader's mind. For Clark, replition not only creates
a musical rhythm, but also increases his commitment to poetry. Most probably
for this reason, he attaches importance to using it in his poems (Bartlett,
Clark, Ferris, and Weise 283). Clark uses line breaks to emphasize the rhythm,
tone, and subject change (lines 1 and 3). Additionally, the repetition of the
word “My” (line 9) adds emotional intensity and can attract the reader's
attention.
Approach
Approach
I spin around in the middle of the corridor.
My cane taps against four elevator doors. I have pressed the up and down
buttons because there is a fifth elevator door. If I tried to tap all five I
would come to closing doors too late. Let the fifth door open to a ghost. Let
it be confused and close again.
In this poem, Clark shows the reader the
experiences of disability and the difficulties that disabled people face daily
in terms of metaphors and symbols. When we look at the line "Let the fifth
door open to a ghost", the word ghost can be associated with invisibility.
Disability studies also suggest that disabled people are ignored by society.
From this perspective, Clark emphasizes the invisibility that disabled people
frequently encounter in society with the word ghost. When we look at disability
from a medical standpoint, the character tries to perceive the obstacles around
him through his cane, and the medical model sees this as a need. When examined
in terms of the social model, the character's cane constantly bumps into places
and encounters obstacles, which shows that public spaces are not adequately
designed for disabled individuals.
At the Holiday Gas
Station
Near the Naked Juices
I passed
A man my fingers
walking
Across his back he
turned and held up
A box said what
Might this be I said
oh
You’re tactile too
what’s your name
He said William Amos
Miller I said
I thought you were
born in 1872 he said so
You know who I am yes
you’re the man
Who journeyed to the
center of Earth
In your mind he smiled
on my arm said do
You know that the
Earth also journeyed
To the center of my
mind I said
I never thought of
that he asked
Again about the box I
shook it sniffed
Said Mike and Ike is
it fruit
He inquired not
exactly well
I think I shall have
an apple wait
You haven’t paid oh
My money nowadays is
no money he pushed
Outside we walked
across the ice
To the intersection
he made to go across
Wait you can’t go
across we have to wait
For help oh help he
said crouching
Until our hands
touched the cold ground
He said I said we
said we see
With our hands I
jumped up and said you’re the man .” (Clark,235)
Clark mentions “William Amos Miller”(line 7)
as a historical figure. It is known that Miller, born in the 1870s, was also a
Deafblind poet. He also talks about Miller's intellectual side with his
discourse in Lines 8 and 9. He thinks that disability dates back to those times
and those historical figures can be an inspiration to disabled individuals. In
lines 19 and 20, Clark highlights the economic injustices disabled individuals
face today. They are in a disadvantaged position and are exposed to negative barriers
created in society. Looking at the last two lines, it becomes clear that
visually impaired individuals can perceive and make sense of the world thanks
to their tactile perception.
The Diagnosis
An erasure of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s “Palingenesis”
I, sobbing in the
rolling mist,
Started for peopled
days. In dreams
A faded, lonely
promontory shed petals.
Belief exists.
Cunning with its perfume
Working from youth,
defiance. A phantom
Vanished. The swift
surrenders, leap into
The old dead heart of
lies.
I will give,
remembering my turns
Into foliage. Of what
light unseen!
What, what, what,
what, what, what
Will hold still
without its end?(Clark13)
Stating that disabled individuals experience injustice, discrimination,
and exclusion in many senses, Clark proceeds in this poem through the concepts
of hope, search for meaning, and uncertainty in “The Diagnosis.” Clark's
“Belief exists’’ (line 4) tells us that hope and belief continue despite all
the medical, mostly negative conditions experienced. He may think that people should maintain
their hopes and live with a positive attitude towards life. The word “light’’ (line 9) may refer to them
finding new lights in life. However,
with the phrase “of what light is unseen’’, he thinks that they cannot discover
their potential as they wish due to the prejudices they face in society and
that their potential is ignored.
Therefore, it can be understood from the repetitive phrase (line 10) and
the phrase “rolling mist’’ (line 1) that they are uncertain in several respects
and may be constantly searching for meaning.
Discussion and Conclusion
Clark deals with the emotional struggles of
disabled individuals and the daily difficulties and inequalities they face in
many areas, such as economics and education. The imaginary meanings and themes
in his poems bring an understanding of disability that makes it more meaningful
from the reader's perspective and offers us the opportunity to explore the
inner worlds and social bonds of disabled individuals deeply.
Clark's poems bring new perspectives to the
existing literature. In particular, telling and sharing the stories and
experiences of individuals with disabilities is critical in raising social
awareness through breaking down prejudices. The emphasis on tactile images and
physical contact in Clark's poems helps us understand the communication and
emotional bonds of disabled individuals. Readers witness the lives of disabled
people in poems. Further research can reveal how these two perspectives impact
literary representations by comparing Clark's works with those of other poets
who do not have a disability history but deal with disability themes. Such
comparative studies will allow us to understand in a broader context how themes
and images of disability are addressed in various ways in literature and the
effects of these themes on social awareness. Therefore, we can more
comprehensively evaluate the various dimensions of literary representations of
the disability experience and the place of these representations in society.
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