2007 Todd Beers and Eddie Swayze Interview
Channel: RIT Libraries
Date: 2019-03-26

Summarized by Joan Naturale. This video is from the Miriam and Kenny Lerner collection. Both are interviewed by Miriam Lerner. Todd starts out the interview by explaining how he knew Jim Cohn, a fellow poet. Jim published some of his poems. Jim was involved with Deaf poetry which Todd was learning about. The Deaf poets had an influence on Todd’s work. He was exposed to the performances of Peter Cook and Kenny Lerner which flipped a switch for him as he (Todd) was the one who couldn’t ‘hear’. 

He recalls performing with others at the old Snake Sisters on South Ave for the 12 ½ cent poetry series. At that time, aside from Writers and books, this was the place for open mikes.  Todd got together with 10 -12 other people to do something together. At that time, he was doing constructions in the basement, framing with rope, and painting it. He came up with a name for the poetry reading, “Painted Rope”. 

Working with interpreters made him think more about what he was doing which was not his intention because a poem is smarter than the poet. Then he realized what the poem was trying to say which he had never taken to that level before which was an educational experience for him. The interpreter would ask him questions he never thought of because his intent was to create an image and leave it at that.  William Carlos Williams’s line emphasizing ‘in things, not in ideas’ –show, do not tell, is where hearing poets miss the boat. It is not about the thought, but about the experience. A Deaf poet has an advantage because you have to go to the image. Todd was always after the image, and many hearing poets like ideas, so I go back to that line. I do not think that is art or poetry. 
, 
When he listened to a poet speaking, he would always look at the interpreter because it allowed him to see the poem better. He could hear the poem but the interpretation gave it more substance and the poem danced through the interpreter which was a very moving experience for him. The interpreter is so brave, and to have his poetry worn by someone, what an honor it was for him as a young poet to take his art that seriously and experience it. The Deaf audience took to his work more than the hearing audience, who can be there without being there. 

He remembers the poet about the space shuttle (referring to Patrick Graybill). Twenty years ago he saw the poem performed and it stuck with him because it was an experience and he could see it. The space shuttle took off, then it exploded, and it made him think of Kennedy being shot and the tears came down on his face. Hearing people are disadvantaged because words are so limiting. Trying to communicate with someone what you really want to say---about the space shuttle, then Kennedy, and tears, it is really difficult to say with the right words and sounds. Poetry is so complex. 

Charles Olsen said, that ‘art is the only twin life has’. It’s a dance, it’s another language, it truly is. Poetry makes visible what is invisible, it unrepressed, it undenies. 

Eddie starts out the interview by explaining how he has written English poetry since high school during the 1980s. He attended Horseheads HS near Elmira, NY. He was fascinated with the ‘punk movement’ and discovered Patti Smith. He was fascinated with her experimentations and he started playing music on his own. He entered NTID in 1983 and discovered Jim Cohn, Peter Cook, Debbie Rennie, and others. He did not think of performing sign poetry translating from English to ASL. He preferred to sign songs which he had done since he was twelve. After meeting Jim Cohn, with his encouragement, Eddie started performing at Jazzberries around 1984 or 1985. Jim Cohn was his NTID teacher at the time and he recognized Eddie’s writing as poetic and asked him if he was a poet. Eddie had seen Peter Cook perform, so he decided to give poetry a try and he has been doing it ever since.

Visual description: Todd Beers is wearing glasses, a dark gray hat, and a dark gray sweater. He is in front of a bright green background. Eddie Swayze has medium brown hair and is wearing a dark gray sweater over a black shirt. He is in front of a blue background. For more information, please go to the Deaf Studies Archive finding aid link URL: https://archivesspace.rit.edu/repositories/2/resources/815

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs CC BY-NC-ND
You can download the video and share it with others as long as you credit us, but you cannot change them in any way or use them commercially. 
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...
https://licensebuttons.net/l/by-nc-nd...
"This project is supported by a Digitizing Hidden Collections grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR). The grant program is made possible by funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation." https://www.clir.org/2018/01/clir-ann...