The poem \u201cPoet of Cripples\u201d written by Jim Ferris dictates the narrator as the poet for people with disabilities or \u201ccripples\u201d. Ferris himself is disabled and portrays a problematic stance on disability throughout the poem due to the poetic speaker\u2019s heroic tone. Ferris presents a common view that he may experience as a person with disability, that is the idea of needing to be put back together and or losing control of one\u2019s sense of power. I will argue that he uses the poetic speaker to highlight his experience of \u201closs\u201d of power in his life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The poetic speaker\u2019s first questionable approach is the fact that he declares himself \u201ca poet of cripples\u201d; he takes the title along with the power to speak and be the poet for cripples. This presents the perception that people with disabilities need someone to be their poet and speak for them, that they are not capable of being their own poet. This takes the power away from the community, when they are people too and should have the opportunity to be their own poet. The poetic speaker ends the poem with \u201cI sing for cripples\u201d continuing the pattern of taking the power away from others simply because he thinks he needs to speak for them. The community is allowed to sing for themselves and speak for themselves, but in society people assume because they are disabled they need someone to be their voice. Society takes the power away from people with disabilities because they have this idea that because they have a disability they do not have the ability, or sometimes even the option to make their own decisions and control their own lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the poem it is suggested by the poetic speaker that people with disabilities are not whole or are missing something and needed to be complete.\u00a0 Ferris writes that people with disabilities are \u201cgroping to be whole\u201d and that they need or want to \u201cbecome full, whole\u201d and that it is the narrator\u2019s duty as a voice for the community to help them. Throughout the poem the suggestion that people with disabilities are incomplete or missing something; wanting to be whole. The suggestion is problematic in the sense that it devalues their feelings and the narrator takes on the role to determine that they should not be happy with who they are and they are not like everyone else, they are only half of non-disabled people. Society creates the perception, as well, that people who have disabilities or impairments are missing something and it creates a negative association with disabilities when they are also people and are whole despite their disability. They are allowed to be okay with who they are and not feel like their life is a loss and they do not need to feel the desire to want more, no one is more whole than anyone else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another complication presented in the poem is the use of the word \u201cnormal\u201d. Jim Ferris presents the concept that people that are nondisabled are considered which labels people with disabilities as abnormal. Ferris simply sheds light on the issue that is brought on by society is that anyone who is in any way different or is not what society defines as \u201cnormal\u201d they are abnormal, therefore, since people with disabilities usually stand out or are considered different they are labeled as abnormal. He blends his personal experience with disability into the poem throughout by including how people manipulate and control people with disabilities simply because they think they need to save them. However, the idea of feeling abnormal comes from within Ferris and how he is seen as different from other\u2019s simply because one leg grew shorter than the other. Similar to how society treats other people with disabilities, there is the possibility he experienced the same otherness and incorporated it into his work to grow the understanding of viewpoints with disability. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tDespite the negatives the one thing I found interesting in the poem is Ferris\u2019s attempt at uniting everyone and creating a larger community. The narrator suggests inside everyone there\u2019s disability and he sings for everyone, suggesting everyone is alike and it is everyone\u2019s differences that bring them together. It also suggests that even though one may not be disabled they still have a connection to someone in life that is disabled creating that connection.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI Pledge\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Word Count: 615
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The poem \u201cPoet of Cripples\u201d written by Jim Ferris dictates the narrator as the poet for people with disabilities or \u201ccripples\u201d. Ferris himself is disabled and portrays a problematic stance on disability throughout the poem due to the poetic speaker\u2019s heroic tone. Ferris presents a common view that he may experience as a person with … Continue reading “Allison’s Short Reading Response: Poet of Cripples”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":86,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[150,147,146,148,52,149],"class_list":["post-1846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-hero","tag-jim-ferris","tag-poet-of-cripples","tag-power","tag-short-reading-response","tag-whole"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/scJhts-1846","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/86"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1846"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1846\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1860,"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1846\/revisions\/1860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}