How to Communicate: Poems

How to Communicate is a dynamic journey through language, community, and identity, featuring inventive forms, sensuous prose poems, and pathbreaking translations from American Sign Language and Protactile. The poet explores grief, family, knitting, and encounters with a ghost, counteracting the assumptions of the sighted and hearing world with humor and grace. It is a rare work of transformation and discovery.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 112 pages
Publication date: 17 November 2023
Publisher: WW Norton & Co

How to Communicate is a captivating exploration of language, community, and personal identity, written by poet John Lee Clark. This dynamic work shifts between inventive poetic forms inspired by the Braille slate, sensuous prose poems, and incisive erasures that uncover new narratives in nineteenth-century poetry. Clark challenges the boundaries of the literary canon by including groundbreaking translations from American Sign Language and Protactile, a language based on touch.

Through his unique perspective and connection to an expanding, inclusive activist community, Clark embraces new linguistic possibilities that emerge from his work. He delves into themes of grief, family dynamics, the joys of knitting and museum visits, and even encounters a ghost in a gas station. With humor and grace, Clark counters the assumptions of the sighted and hearing world, revealing the beauty in communicating through touch.

This rare and transformative work is a brilliant debut that insists on the power of poetry. It invites readers to embark on a journey of exploration, discovery, and connection, challenging preconceived notions and expanding our understanding of language and the human experience.

Weight: 126g
Dimension: 154 x 209 x 14 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781324074793