Long, loud, and cantankerous is the howl raised by the
deaf-mute! It has to be if he wishes to be heard and
listened to.
The Deaf-Mute Howls, A. Ballin (1930)
The universality of ASL
was never the remedy –
diversity among us
made divisions
in our own crumbled Babel.
We’ve estranged ourselves
from the cantankerous world
and muted our own silence.
Still we howl.
The remedy was never
an ultimate solution –
laws were made
like rules in the institute –
to make us
deviously divisive
and indecisive.
We’ve panned out
for escapades
to avoid taxing volitions
for the better.
Still we howl.
The solution has always
been within us
but its invincibility
left us mucking
in perpetuating battles.
We’ve gagged and screamed
at each other
for the righteous claim
to glory but no one
stakes the claim to divinity.
Still we howl.
Tonight as in every bitter sunset
with the hazy full moon
there still will be more
Deaf Man howls.
By Curt Robbins