[stylist] anthology of blind poets
John Lee Clark
johnlee at clarktouch.com
Sat Apr 4 16:41:47 UTC 2009
Here's how my Deaf American Poetry came together:
When I started publishing The Tactile Mind, I got lots of contemporary poems
by Deaf poets. This gave me the idea to do an anthology. I knew there
hasn't been such an anthology since 1960, and that one was far from
definitive.
I then bought, borrowed, and had photocopied over seven hundred volumes of
poetry between 1827, when the first poetry book by a Deaf poet was published
in America, to today. This process took about six years. Since there were
too many Deaf periodicals for me to canvass, I decided to go through only
the leading publication of each era--the Deaf Gazette, which lasted until
the Civil War; American Annals of the Deaf, which started in 1848 but in
time became an exclusively academic journal by 1910; the Silent World,
1871-1876; the Deaf Mute's Journal, 1881-1932; the Silent Worker, 1900-1966,
which then became the Deaf American until very recently; and, finally, Deaf
Life magazine.
The purpose of the forays into the periodicals was to find good poets who
never published books of their own. There were various old anthologies to
check out. But mainly, I focused on books of poetry by Deaf poets, because,
generally, the better and more serious poets tended to have books. True
enough, out of the materials found in periodicals only one--one--ultimately
made it to the final draft. But the periodicals were important in leading
me to poets who I didn't already know about and who turned out to have
published books. Some of the periodicals also gave me my only biographical
data on certain poets, by way of their obituaries.
Fortunately, most of the poets'[' bios were easy to draw up, thanks to a
wealth of history books, the two most useful being Jack R. Gannon's Deaf
Heritage: A Narrative History and Harry G. Lang's A Biographical Dictionary
of Deaf People in the Arts and Sciences. A few other sources, but it took
care of most of the poets. One or two in my anthology still have no birth
or death dates and very little biographical information.
As I read through the poems, I made my first selections, and they were what
you'd call generous selections. I just took in anything relevant. I ended
up with over three hundred poems. Then I read them more seriously. Three
hundred got reduced to two hundred. I then didn't read them again right
away, but worked on the biographical side of the research. I also drafted
the introduction. I even got the intro published as an essay in a
prestigious magazine. Then I read the poems again, and again, and again,
getting to know them intimately and making painful decisions on deleting
some of them. Some poems were in and out and in and out again.
Finally, the book had ninety-five poems by thirty-seven poets. I ordered
them chronologically by poet's birth date. Put in the bios before each
poet's poems. I then wrote my commentary on each poet. The commentaries
were about two paragraphs and the bios about two paragraphs, too, so most
"prefaces" to the poets' poems were one page long. The introduction
discussed the outline of the history of Deaf poets and the general
significance of their work, while the prefaces discussed the poems more
directly.
I decided Gallaudet University Press would be the best publisher for this,
because it would last for many years, and they had access to all the schools
for the deaf and all the ASL and Deaf Studies programs here and aboard which
would likely make it required reading for their courses. While the book has
gotten good mainstream interest, I knew that would be for a short time in
terms of sales, and a mainstream publisher wouldn't be able to keep it going
for years because it would have no connections with the teachers who would
make it required reading.
And there is the issue of getting permissions. For the first half of the
book, everything is in the public domain, so no need to get anyone's
permissions. Then the poets who are still living, those were pretty easy.
The hardest were the dead ones but not old enough for their work to be in
the public domain. So I had to track down estates, relatives, and certain
institutions.
Yes, it took six years or so, but it wasn't like I was on it all the time.
I did a lot of other things and worked on other projects, too.
A team effort would perhaps be faster, but too many people can be a
liability. Maybe three people would be good, and all three could experience
all the parts, instead of one doing only one thing and another only another.
The gathering, the selecting, biographical research, analysis and
commentary.
Let me know what you think!
John
-----Original Message-----
From: stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Robert Newman
Sent: Saturday, April 04, 2009 5:48 AM
To: 'Writer's Division Mailing List'
Subject: Re: [stylist] anthology of blind poets
If people were interested in this project, what would be the steps to put it
together? (What I am saying and asking is: This would be a good learning
project for everyone on this list. Do we have interest here? Who is willing
to step up and take a leading role; what roles are there? Should we have a
poetry and a short fiction volume? --- what are the considerations here?
Robert Leslie Newman
Email- newmanrl at cox.net
THOUGHT PROVOKER Website-
Http://www.thoughtprovoker.info
-----Original Message-----
From: stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of slery
Sent: Saturday, April 04, 2009 1:50 AM
To: 'NFBnet Writer's Division Mailing List'
Subject: Re: [stylist] anthology of blind poets
Actually, I know the founder of Sarabande Books. He is a poet and if our
book is put together with strong enough pieces, this might be an avenue we
could pursue for publishing. It is a small press and we are more likely to
have success.
Cindy
> -----Original Message-----
> From: stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org
> [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of John Lee Clark
> Sent: Wednesday, April 01, 2009 11:49 PM
> To: 'NFBnet Writer's Division Mailing List'
> Subject: Re: [stylist] anthology of blind poets
>
>
> Robert:
>
> There should be an anthology for fiction, too. But the problem with a
> mixed anthology is that it is usually less credible and taken less
> seriously. I am not sure why this is so, but it's a fact. Take the
> anthology Despite This Flesh--by disabled writers, in a variety of
> genures.
> Everything in it was great. But collectively it wasn't strong, in
> spite of the strength of the individual pieces.
>
> So that's why I would rather focus on one writing category.
> It so happens my favorite is poetry.
>
> But we can work together to just try and get our hands on as many
> pieces in any category, but you can lead the way for fiction or, more
> generally, prose pieces. I'll help find anything that may be
> relevant.
>
> There is one possible high-profile publisher for such a poetry
> anthology--Library of America. It has a series of small collections
> of poems, some selected poems of one poet and others anthologies, but
> quite specific ones, such as Civil War poems, African-American poetry,
> poems of WWII, humorous verse, and erotic poetry.
>
> What do you think?
>
> John
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org
> [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Robert Newman
> Sent: Wednesday, April 01, 2009 5:09 PM
> To: 'NFBnet Writer's Division Mailing List'
> Subject: [stylist] anthology of blind poets
>
> John, I'd like to see some of us working with you to put this
> together. The book, Anthology of Blind Poets.
>
>
> Robert Leslie Newman
> Email- newmanrl at cox.net
> THOUGHT PROVOKER Website-
> Http://www.thoughtprovoker.info
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org
> [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of John Lee Clark
> Sent: Wednesday, April 01, 2009 3:26 PM
> To: 'NFBnet Writer's Division Mailing List'
> Subject: Re: [stylist] History, Heroes, and Authors
>
> Fred:
>
> That's great! I was sure there were a good bunch, and I am relieved
> to find that someone can name names like you did!
>
> I'll check out the books you mentioned.
>
> What about poets? Who are the more well-known contemporary or at
> least modern blind poets?
>
> Maybe I will be interested in doing research into the poetry of blind
> people and assemble an anthology. Do you think that would be a good
> contribution to the blind community? There was an anthology of blind
> poets that was very popular at the end of the nineteenth century--and
> I do mean popular; it was a bestseller--but since then there doesn't
> seem to be a definitive anthology.
>
> John
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org
> [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Fred Wurtzel
> Sent: Wednesday, April 01, 2009 12:04 AM
> To: 'NFBnet Writer's Division Mailing List'
> Subject: Re: [stylist] History, Heroes, and Authors
>
> Hello John,
> I believe we have a great assortment of celebrity scholars and
> performers.
>
> Mary Manes (I probably have her name wrong) wrote the story of Eva
> Perrone, Evita which became a big Broadway hit and movie. She was a
> member of NFB.
>
> Gary Vermeij is a "Genius Award" winner and author of a really good
> autobiography, titled "Privileged Hands" and several more scientific
> books.
>
> Andre Bocelli is a very popular Opera singer, today.
> Worldwide he is nearly as popular as Stevie Wonder.
>
> Ronnie Milsap carries an NFB cane. He has written an autobiography.
> I cannot remember the title, presently.
>
> Mike Hinkson was in the World Trade Center on 9/11.
>
> Dr. tenBroek was and remains, a constitutional scholar who wrote
> extensively.
>
> I am not sure if any of these people have written books, but they are
> or were certainly celebrities. Ginny Owens, Diane Schuur, Blind
> Lemon Jefferson, Blind Willie McTell, Bryan Lee, Blind Boys of Alabama
> (2 grammies in the past 3 or 4 years), Doc Watson, Tom Sullivan Terry
> Gibb and Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee.
>
> This is not a complete list. I am doing this off the top of my head,
> so I certainly have missed some of our blind brother and sister
> celebrities and writers. I hope others can add to this list.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org
> [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of John Lee Clark
> Sent: Tuesday, March 31, 2009 9:08 PM
> To: 'NFBnet Writer's Division Mailing List'
> Subject: Re: [stylist] History, Heroes, and Authors
>
> Angela:
>
> Is that history book available in Braille? If so, where can I buy it
> or borrow it?
>
> Thanks!
>
> John
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org
> [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Angela fowler
> Sent: Tuesday, March 31, 2009 4:54 PM
> To: 'NFBnet Writer's Division Mailing List'
> Subject: Re: [stylist] History, Heroes, and Authors
>
> John,
> I'm not sure if there are books which are uniquely appreciated by
> blind people in the way you mention. As for a book on the history of
> the blind movement, have you read WALKING ALONE MARCHING TOGETHER? It
> is a history of the NFB, from its beginning to 2000 or so. It also
> talks about the quests for independence of blind people in earlier
> centuries, which I find very interesting.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org
> [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of John Lee Clark
> Sent: Tuesday, March 31, 2009 3:21 PM
> To: 'NFBnet Writer's Division Mailing List'
> Subject: [stylist] History, Heroes, and Authors
>
> Hey, all:
>
> I have some questions for you to have the pleasure of answering.
>
> I've been trying to find books on the history of the blind community,
> but without much luck. Can you recommend some titles?
>
> Who are the biggest legendary figures or heroes of the blind
> community?
>
> Who are some of the blind authors that are celebrated and highly
> esteemed in the blind community? Has anyone written the Great Blind
> American Novel? What are some of the classics in the blind literary
> canon that are found on the shelves of almost every blind person's
> home?
>
> Your answers will be most helpful!
>
> John
>
>
>
>
>
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