Francisca Benítez

You have given the world your songs

You have given the world your songs by Francisca Benítez is a poem in American Sign Language (ASL). It employs ten handshapes arranged in a numbering sequence from 1 to 10. This visual rhyme sequence is standard in Deaf poetry, as is the Tenth in Latin American popular oral/written poetry traditions.

The poem was inspired by Elizabeth Catlett’s 1947 lithograph I have given the world my songs at the invitation from Douglas Ridloff to collaborate in a performance at the Whitney Museum in 2018. Slavery, the fight for black liberation, and the artist’s role in articulating that struggle are all addressed in the poem. It expresses remorse and a call to action, urging everyone to continue on the path of justice as a shared responsibility. A printed diagram with a transcription of the poem generated in SignWriting–the sign system for movement and sign language transcription devised by Valerie Sutton in 1974–and translations into English and Spanish accompany the video.

Benitez’s primary focus is American Sign Language poetry, which carries a level of physicality that naturally extends her study of architectural space. The literary genre of ASL poetry focuses on sign language, imitation, facial expression, and other theatrical components that allow the poet to draw attention to specific actions to communicate a message and emphasis. ASL calls for a different degree of attention–experienced on two levels than most hearing people are used to–the literal significance of words read aloud and how the words sound as they are composed by the poet. The latter level, which contains rhymes, repeated vowel and consonant sounds, rhythm, and pacing, is generally referred to as the language’s melody. Where the words are silent in ASL poetry, the music is visual, and rhymes or rhythms are based on handshape or gesture.