Department of English
Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University
Need
(199?)
Peter Cook and Kenny Lerner
( – )
Hearing impaired poet Peter Cook and his hearing collaborator Kenny Lerner met in 1984 were soon invited to perform and lecture at the first National Deaf Poetry Conference in 1987, in Rochester, NY. Their success was immediate, and lead to a five week run at the Friends & Artists Theater in Los Angeles in 1989,and invitations to perform and lecture atthe Saskatchewan Writers Guild 21st Annual Conference,” Writing: The Future,” the Theatre de Lucernaire in Paris, France, as well as performances across the American Southwest. In 1998, Mr. Cook and Mr. Lerner were invited to deliver the keynote performance at the Ohio State University Conference, "Disabilities Studies in Higher Education."
The Flying Words Project is considered to be one of the most innovative in the American Sign Language (ASL) poetry. FWP shows that poetry is not only limited to written and spoken language – it is also the ability to feel and show, transforming limitations of regular communication into the means of literature. “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.” (Dirksen Bauman, Gallaudet University)
The work of FWP represents a vital contribution to the growing field of ASL performance, while many ASL poets are content to produce interesting, but predictable poems. The work of ASL poet Peter Cook and his hearing poet collaborator Kenny Lerner, consistently experiment with the possibilities of poetic language. They perceptively recognize and exploit the cinematic aspects of ASL in ways that often astound the viewer.
At the same time, they incorporate some of the most ancient aspects of poetry--its embodied rhythms both the modern and ancient aspects of their poetry work together to produce an unforgettable visceral and visual experience for multicultural audiences.
As Peter Cook has written, the significance of his work as a Deaf American poet is in his recognition
that ASL poetry isn't solely about Deafness, nor is it about the oppression of Deaf Culture. "Why not turn on
the poetry-engine and
have it roam around country like what Ginsberg did to America with his Howl?
. . . . Why not let ASL poetry be poetry?
Summary “Need” ASL Poem by Peter Cook and Kenny Lerner
"Need" transcribed from the video (with many errors) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ugvjfkl_Nb4
Need need need Oil derrick derrick Pumping Oil filling a half of this tanker This huge ship with oil This tanker with smoke stacks The ship And the ocean bearing smoke It’s lengthen by oil line to the tracker trailer tanker Filling its tank Fuel This tanker on a high way to a gas station Fill in the tank Fuel And the pump a car Fill in this tank Car exhausted driving, pull over Chops down the trees Chops up the trees Compresses chemical, waste, fish Compressed to a single sheet of paper Types up the notice Airmail jet fuel, jet To a house Door opened Envelope Opened, it’s the notice So he straps on his helmet Grabs the gun And you can imagine, War He is shot. He’s bared. He’s covered under the cross. The coffin is compressed Until the drips pressured fluids of need, need, need. |
Reference
Links |
Peter S. Cook |
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Contributors: Chayapim Warashinakom and Jitpisuth Tantasiri
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Last updated September 20, 2009