This week let’s write a poem about being deaf. I’ve always thought I’d rather lose my sight than my hearing but I think it would be much more difficult for me to write poetry blind than deaf. I’m eager to “hear” your comments below.
About Bartholomew Barker
Bartholomew Barker is an organizer of Living Poetry, where he has hosted monthly workshops for more than decade. His first poetry collection, Wednesday Night Regular, written in and about strip clubs, was published in 2013. His second, Milkshakes and Chilidogs, a chapbook of food inspired poetry was served in 2017. He was nominated for the Pushcart Prize in 2021, 2024 & 2025 as well as the Best of the Net Anthology in 2024. His work has appeared in The Lake, Autumn Sky Poetry Daily, Panoply, Tipton Poetry Journal, the Gyroscope Review and the Naugatuck River Review among others.
Living Poetry 
Not a poem, per se. But a beautiful thing.
Watch. Listen. Be moved. The ASL tells no much.
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Posted by Dennis | November 13, 2023, 7:25 AMIt’d be so cool to be fluent in ASL and to write poetry for it. Maybe when I retire…
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Posted by Bartholomew Barker | November 13, 2023, 7:13 PMI’ve looked into learning ASL and/or hiring an ASL actor/actress to perform other pieces. To it in such a way that those without ASL can still “see” “read” what is being said.
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Posted by Dennis | November 13, 2023, 7:18 PMView at Medium.com
If you can’t access my piece, I’ll paste it in a comment.
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Posted by nolchafox | November 13, 2023, 10:54 AMLooks like it may not have worked. Here’s what I wrote:
Can’t Hear
Please knock on my door. Or ring the doorbell. As loud as you can.
The sound might pierce the emptiness you left in the world when you fell through a hole in the fabric of existence. Or maybe it was a hole in my eardrum.
I stuffed my ears with sorrow, and now it won’t come out.
I can’t hear you anymore. I am deaf.
Life and deaf.
I miss you.
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Posted by nolchafox | November 13, 2023, 10:56 AMNice. A tough prompt (for me, at least). The topic moves me but words didn’t come. They came for you. KUDOS for that.
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Posted by Dennis | November 13, 2023, 11:41 AMThank you, Dennis. It was indeed a tough prompt.
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Posted by nolchafox | November 13, 2023, 11:59 AMLove the ears stuffed with sorrow. Great metaphor!
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Posted by Bartholomew Barker | November 13, 2023, 7:11 PMThank you!
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Posted by nolchafox | November 13, 2023, 7:29 PMI am Deaf
In a world of sound, I am deaf,
But my spirit, it knows no cleft.
With hands that converse,
And eyes filled with verse,
I find my own rhythm, bereft.
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Posted by Fay Ann Swearing | November 13, 2023, 12:00 PMMy apologies, Ms. Swearing, your comment got routed to spam for some reason and I only noticed it today.
What a great limerick. Love the last line. Well done!
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Posted by Bartholomew Barker | November 27, 2023, 7:07 PM