Song for a Whale

The handshape poem is ASL’s counterpart to the rhyme of verbal language. Rather than rhyming sounds, the handshape poem features the repetition of hands being in the same shape for the duration of the poem. It can be a collaborative effort, with both parties taking turns adding to it, as they keep the handshape consistent. This recurring motif connects Iris to her grandparents, who are Deaf and are the adults with whom she can best communicate. While Iris’s grandparents encourage her creativity, Iris’s narrow-minded hearing teacher doesn’t recognize the handshape poem’s rhyme, which indicates that Iris is in an educational environment where she won’t flourish. She takes Ms. Conn’s attack on the handshape poem as an attack not only on herself but also on Deaf culture, which Ms. Conn sees as inferior to the mainstream hearing culture.

Additionally, the handshape poem becomes a barometer of Grandma’s happiness and attitude toward life. While she’s in the listless throes of bereavement, Grandma dismisses Iris’s attempt to start a poem, saying that it’s more Grandpa’s thing. This causes Iris to feel a rift with her grandmother. In contrast, when they’re together on the Alaskan cruise, Grandma eagerly participates in a poem about the glaciers she longed to see with

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