Never Mute: Deaf Poet Voices. (Original poetry)

The work is an original volume of poetry with an introduction by the author, which both discusses the influence of other poets and places the work within the canon of American literature. The poetry lies within the lesbian feminist tradition associated with Audre Lorde, Judy Gahn and Adriene Rich. This is a free verse poetry that combines extensive use of the confessionalist school's "I" voices with the concrete school's sculpting of the poem on the page. By drawing on a variety of divergent sources, such as T. S. Eliot, Robert Browning and Marge Piercy, the poet provides a diverse range of dramatic voices and approaches. This is an attempt to further expand through the process of integration the stylistic options available in the general poetic canon. In addition, the poet hopes to deepen the representation of individuals who have been traditionally "muted" in Western literature, by providing them with a "voice" in her poetry.