Their voices are a screech on a broken treble clef!
Assign some singing therapy to close up all the rifts!
Raising up my hand; piano to my left!
Tap my tongue, click my teeth,
and we can save the deaf! (Clap!)
It’s almost sexual, rub their little throats!
Add some clouds and shrubbery;
they’ll bleat like mountain goats!
Touch their forming mandibles! Chins a tiny cleft!
Teach them signs for “ball” and “tree”
and we can save the deaf! (Clap!)
Put on plays! Work the script for days!
Let them run the printing press
and see how much it pays!
Brush their hair with hearing aids! We’re daring and we’re deft!
Teach them to communicate
and we can save the deaf! (Clap!)
Build them institutions! Sweeping dedications!
Teach them yes to nouns and verbs
and no to masturbation!
A tiny tummy tickle gives their lips a little lift!
Cochlear implant surgery—
and we can save the deaf! (Clap!)
Their voices are a warble when they aren’t at their best!
But strap them on a table, and we’ll install the rest!
A few more statistics; studies with a twist!
The more we know, the more we go,
and we can save the deaf! (Clap!)
*This poem also appeared in John Lee Clark’s Deaf American Poetry: An Anthology (2009), published by Gallaudet University Press.
