Rebecca Anne Withey: Review of ‘What Meets the Eye’ – an anthology of poems by deaf writers

What Meets the Eye, The Deaf Perspective is an anthology of over 50 poems or short pieces of fiction that are written by deaf or hard of hearing writers.

Edited by Lisa Kelly and Sophie Stone, its aim is to show a vast variety of experiences of living with deafness or what it means to be deaf in todays world as the editors wish to demonstrate how deafness is ‘not circumscribed by a single identity, attitude or political stance.’

The theme for this particular anthology is movement with the hope that the poems may portray how times are moving or have changed as well as a simple wish that the writing may indeed move the reader emotionally.

As with most anthologies, there is a huge range of writing styles and topics covered. My personal preference are poems those that read almost as diary entries, such as Coffee Shop by Colly Metcalfe. This poem describes in detail the awkwardness of waiting to be served by a barista, not knowing if you’re being spoken to.

The thoughts Colly Metcalfe has while waiting in her line are humorous and identifiable by any deaf person who has been surrounded by masked staff at a coffee shop. I laughed out loud as Metcalfe cringed – I’ve been there! – and smiled at the internal thoughts ruminating as to whether she was speaking too loudly or too quietly. This poem felt so relatable and I loved how it played like a scene from a film in my head.

I similarly loved the descriptive nature of Paper Bags Always Meant One Thing by Alison Campbell whose work feels nostalgic as she recounts memories from days passed. Little details such as the memory of her Aunt bringing bags of broken bits of Lindt chocolate from her factory job felt extremely cosy. The visual imagery the poem created was really lovely. It’s exactly what I enjoy in poetry.

There are also stronger, more personal messages in other works with Maryam Ebrahim’s ‘I Will Talk For You’ coming across as particularly powerful to me. Here we see how Ebrahim reveals the bitterness of always being expected to talk, but nobody else around being willing to sign. Ebrahim’s directness and simmering anger is clear, with the frustration of being the sole signer one that’s felt by many deaf people worldwide, I am sure.

I also liked the clear, simplistic structure of Mary-Jayne Russell De Clifford’s ‘Label.’ It described how she as a person has shifted from label to label as she’s gotten older and how her own personal identity has changed and grown. I enjoyed her conclusion; that she moves swiftly just like time does with acceptance of what is.

The variety of work published in What Meets the Eye is exceptionally good, with a great selection of differing takes on what it means to be deaf. For most authors, lipreading and the effort of fitting into a hearing world is apparent in their writing. There are quite a few humorous takes and some others depicting a more intense – and at times grim –  perspective on deafness.

Another one of my favourites however, was a poem that touched only momentarily on ‘deaf issues’ before going in detail on a very personal moment. My Glow by Sahera Khan recounts the time that she gave birth to a premature baby – the baby she referrs to as ‘my glow’ – and the moment she was unable to hold him as he was rushed to intensive care.

Khan mentions briefly that there were a few ‘communication barriers because of lockdown’ but her focus throughout remains purely on the love she feels for her baby. I found her poem incredibly intimate and rather beautiful.

For many readers, they will most definitely find their own favourites within the anthology as poetry as a genre is wide and of course subject to personal taste.

Interestingly, the editors of the anthology have stated their intention to translate all works into BSL, with three poems currently having BSL translations available to view online. I find this an ambitious project to undertake especially as I feel certain poems will be a challenge to translate into BSL.

For several poems, the english words and phrases written are notably impressive (in what I call ‘fancy words!’) and are phrases that aren’t used often – or at all – in the BSL world.

However, the poems that will lend themselves best to BSL translation are those which portray visual imagery or ‘tell a story.’ You can see a selection done very well here:

BSL What Meets the Eye

I feel that for the more traditional poems that rely on the rhythmic, ‘iambic pentameters’ or pauses in the english phrases for effect – this stylisation will be lost once translated into our visual sign language and won’t work as well. But I am eager to see how this develops.

It is wonderful to see so many writers being given a platform to come together and write about the various ways in which the deaf perspective is lived. Your personal favourite will perhaps be different to mine, and that’s the beauty of a poetry anthology. There’s so much to choose from.

Go and get yourself a copy and let me know which one of the works speaks most to you.

You can buy What Meets The Eye, The Deaf Perspective here:

 

SHOP