British Sign Language poetry

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Much as spoken English, British Sign Language has its own literature, which includes poetry. Deaf poetry in Sign Language was given impulse by Dorothy Miles, a Welsh deaf performer and activist, who had extensive experience in performance arts during her time spent in the US..

The performative nature of poetry in sign language is the reason why poems could be captured only upon diffusion of recording equipment, and only rarely they exist in written form. A word-by-word translation into English is challenging, as Sign Language has its own structure and ways to convey meaning, and poetry relies on performance elements that cannot be captured by text only.

As well as performed at events and gatherings, on the influence of their American Sign Language counterparts, BSL poetry slams have been introduced in the UK, with poets competing against each other during the course of an evening.

Features of British Sign Language poetry

While storytelling is a big part of Deaf culture, poetry as a way of expression was not that common before the dedicated work of Dorothy Miles, who published collections of poems and performed in deaf clubs, as well as on television.

Sign Language Poetry is used as a medium to express long or complex ideas in an immediate and brief way. Poetic language is different from everyday language, and linguistic rules are bent to achieve the artistic aims of the poet/performer.

Since it does not rely on sounds, Sign Language poetry is based on visual features instead to achieve a sense of artistic language, which can be grouped roughly into three main areas: the use of creative signs, the use of repetition, and symmetry.

When performing poetry, the shape of a sign is usually more important than its meaning, and signs are chosen carefully to contribute to the overall visual balance. Each poet can modify and adapt the morphological features of signs to convey a visual effect and generate new meaning. Therefore, poetry relies heavily on creative and visually motivated signs (also called "productive" signs), rather than "established" signs, especially during descriptions or narration of action scenes.

Repetitions work the same way rhymes work for written or spoken poetry. Repetition can involve: signs with the same handshape (for example, TREE and DEER are both based on an open hand), signs with the same movement or location (for example, SHEEP and DREAM are both signed next to the temple), and repetition of patterns.

Also, symmetry features often in sign language poetry, to give a sense of visual balance. For example, an action occurring on the right side will be followed by an action on the left side (vertical symmetry). Signs that are usually one-handed become two-handed.

Deaf poetry includes the use of body language, mime, facial expressions, and visual vernacular (VV), a form of body/sign language the relies on visual clues to relay the meaning in a transparent way.

A non-comprehensive list of British Sign Language poets and performers is reported below.

List of British Sign Language poets

Richard Carter

Richard Carter is an English poet and storyteller based in Bristol. He is Deaf and uses British Sign Language (BSL).

Personal life

Carter comes from a family of Showmen travellers. When he became deaf at the age of 13 months, his mum decided to stay in Great Yarmouth, so that Richard could attend a deaf school.

In 2008, along with Ian Glover, Richard founded Deafab, an annual weekend gathering for Deaf LGBTQ+ people. It took part in Bristol, Cardiff, Manchester, Belfast, Birmingham and Leeds and closed in 2018. His poem "Deaf gay", composed and performed together with Deaf actor David Ellington, reflects on their experience as Deaf members of the LGBT+ community.

Activity

Carter has been composing and performing poetry in Sign Language for over 20 years, and has performed at a range of festivals, Deaf Clubs, parties and other events, along with other Deaf and hearing poets, including the Bristol Sign Poetry Festivals (2010, 2011). Along with other deaf poets, his performances have contributed to an online anthology of BSL poetry. Among his most celebrated poems are "Deaf Gay", "Owl" and "Identities"

As well as performing, Carter teaches BSL and poetry to Deaf adults and children across the UK. In particular, he was involved in the Life & Deaf project in Greenwich, London. The project aimed at improve Deaf children's confidence and communication skills through the medium of poetry

He has had roles as a research consultant at the University of Bristol, for example exploring the use of metaphor within creative Sign Language

Sahera Khan

Sahera Khan is of British South Asian heritage and Muslim. She is a British Sign Language user.

Khan works in the creative arts as an actress, writer, poet and storyteller.

She produces stories and poems for the internet, such as She has performed her poetry on stage at the BSL Poetry Slam.

She has written several short screenplays for screen and theatre, including a short film called He Stood Me Up which was commissioned by BSL Zone in 2014, and a short play called Hope for Ishq, and Am I Dulhan (A Bride) Yet?, a play about a Muslim woman who is looking to propose to her boyfriend. More recently she has produced a short movie called Faith on the intersection of faith and LGBTQ. As an actress, she has appeared on stage in productions with Deafinitely Theatre and Greae. Khan is also a presenter for BSL Zone. She is a trustee of DEWA (Deaf Ethic Women's Association)

Zoë McWhinney

Zoë McWhinney comes from a deaf family (her father is Jeff McWhinney). A graduate from Birmingham University and the Ecole Theatrale Universelle in Toulouse, she is an actress and visual vernacular (VV) performer. McWhinney has competed in several national and international VV championships. She hosts workshops on visual storytelling, poetry and VV, and she organises BSL poetry slams.

Dorothy Miles

See Dorothy Miles.

Paul Scott

See Paul Scott.

Donna Williams

Donna Williams is an English poet, writer and consultant based in Bristol. She is Deaf and a British Sign Language user.

Activity

Williams was raised oralist but started learning and using Sign Language whilst studying for her BA at UCLan.

Williams then started composing her poems in Sign Language and performing around the UK, including at the Edinburgh Fringe and the Albert Hall, as well as abroad (America and Brazil). Her signed poems contributed to an anthology of British Sign Language poetry available online.

Several of her written poems have been published in anthologies, for examples in 'Stairs and Whispers: Deaf and Disabled Poets Write Back', 'When The Dead Are Cured' for Deaf Lit Extravaganza, edited by John Lee Clark, and in issue 69 of Magma magazine. As well as composing poetry, she has written short plays with Deafinitely Theatre and Graeae Theatre, and she writes articles for the Limping Chicken, a deaf news outlet.

She is also interested in ethics and moral issues. In 2012 she completed an MA in Ethics and Social Philosophy from Cardiff University with a dissertation on eugenics.

She volunteers for the National Deaf Children Society as a Deaf Role Model Presenter.

John Wilson

John Wilson was born in the North East of England. He has experience as a Deaf arts practitioner and creative signer, as a theatre and television actor (he was the recipient of a prize at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival), and as director of numerous productions including BSL translations of Shakespeare. He has been an occasional TV presenter both for the BBC’s See Hear and the Channel 4 series Sign On. From 1992 to 2005 Wilson was Deaf Arts Officer for Shape, an organisation promoting engagement in arts and culture across the UK by disabled, deaf and older people. Wilson has been involved in the translation of the Bible into British Sign Language.

His work as a sign poet and performer has been well received, and John has been part of several projects both in the UK and internationally to promote creative sign through the medium of BSL.

Wilson works as a BSL lecturer and BSL guide for a number of high profile institutions including the Tate Modern and Tate Britain, Royal Academy, Science Museum, National Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery.

See also

• British Sign Language
• Deaf culture
• American Sign Language literature

Further reading

• "BSL Slam". BSL Slam.
• Kelly, Lisa; Stone, Sophie (eds.). What meets the eye? the Deaf perspective. Arachne Press. Search this book on
• "BSL for Higher Education Website". BSL for Higher Education Website.

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