Beauty is a Verb: The New Poetry of Disability

There are not many sources to go to when looking for poetry that addresses different abilities or differently-abled poets, and some of the others privilege the sociological over the poetics. This book is a serious poetry book by poets who happen to have disabilities and much of the work is resonant and eye-opening. The book is organized historically, and it's useful to watch the evolution of the differently-abled movement.

Beauty is a Verb is a book that has been needed for some time. The metaphor of disability needs to be part of all writers' bag of tools, for isn't the goal of good writing to share experience and widen the horizons of the readers ? No more should we have the stigma of 'other' separating good beauty and bad beauty, This book is one I will read closely and then read again. I will learn from the poets in this volume and not apologize for rolling backwards and scraping against 32 inch door jambs.

Excellent introduction and best support for those who are confrontated with chronic disease, impairment. There is no illness, there is no health.

definitely not what I expected judging by the review....not appropriate for middle school or below, and really not about disabilities, just by authors with disabilities...disappointed.

An excellent source into the world of disability! Beautifully writings that provide powerful voices for the less fortunate, who demonstrate extreme intelligence, talent, and empowerment!

Everyone should read this book. It is a stunning collection of concise, wonderful poetry and essays. If you're looking for great contemporary literature, this is it.

a lovely collection. person-centered.

My review will not do justice to Beauty is a Verb, edited by Jennifer Bartlett, Sheila Black, and Michael Northern. Poetry anthologies do not fall under my expertise, even if the subject matter of disabilities is something I know about as a special education teacher. However, this almost 400-page book created such as impact on me that I’m going to try to write a few words of recommendation.Should you ever have opportunity to pick up Beauty is a Verb what you’ll have in your hands will be far more than simply a series of poems written by those with physical disabilities. The anthology is organized into four distinct periods within the American Disability Poems: Early Voices, Disability Poetics Movement, Lyricism of the Body, and Towards a New Language of Embodiment. The earliest poems were written prior to 1960 when disability was still shunned. As such, poets within this period were unable to imagine such accommodations as the erection of curb cuts for wheelchair users. The second period includes the controversial development of crip poems or poetry of cripples. Some fear that if disabled people form a community, their separateness from society will be reinforced. At the same time, others believe that the connection of a community would be affirming to those with disabilities. Recent poetry shows more experimentation by poets in how they chose to explore disability.Accompanying many of the poems are essays. Some of the essays are tributes to poets who are believed to have shaped disability poems such as Josephine Miles who suffered from the age of two with rheumatoid arthritis. Others were written by featured poets themselves and cover such enlightening topics as the antagonism and obsession felt towards Helen Keller: “I was an ordinary kid who never did her homework, never cleaned her room, and didn’t want to be saintly. There was no way that I could ever be able to hang out with Helen Keller.” Several of the essays even include references to landmark events for the disability rights movement such as how in 1977 the movement reached its apex when the disabled and their advocates took over the fourth floor of the San Francisco Federal Building for almost four weeks. This protest resulted in the ratification of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, which prohibits any federally-funded program from discriminating against a person with a “qualified” handicap.I do have a couple of quibbles with the anthology. First, the tiny print is off-putting, and almost kept me from reading this valuable body of work. Second, as a special education teacher, I wished to see more than physical disabilities represented. However, the editors do provide a reasonable rationale for this latter decision: “…. We primarily chose poets with a visible disability. In this, the poets’ difficulty becomes twofold, a struggle with physical limitations coupled with the society’s critique of non-normative body.”As a package, Beauty is a Verb gives an insight into how societal attitudes towards disabilities has evolved. As I perused it, I found myself wanting to pursue a doctorate in disability literature. I can also imagine teachers of students in high school or college selecting certain poems and essays to spark conversations about what it means to be both abled and disabled in one’s body. Although perhaps for a select audience, this is an impressive volume.

This book was recommended by a friend and I'm so glad he told me about it. Each section is introduced with a short essay and then you get four or five poems by one poet. The first section includes poets from a while back who were writing at a time when there was no disability rights movement (30s, 40s, 50s) and so their aim was to minimize their disabilities, hide their pain and 'act cheerful', as it were. Some of the essays contextualize this with other prejudices that were around e.g. against women in academia, or seeing people with disabilities as being asexual... A few of this early poets lived long enough to cross-over with the years of disability's politicisation (the 70s) and then there's a detectable shift in their work. Later sections are dedicated to contemporary (i.e. living/ recent) writers. I am really enjoying this book and having my mind opened up in all kinds of ways. When I've finished it I am going to short-list my favourites and try and track down full poetry collections by them. There are writers here I forgot I knew about or forgot had disabilities (Larry Eigner, Vassar Miller) and then people who are complete news to me. Buy it now!